406 - Viet History Makers - Can Truth Be The Enemy? A Look into the Life of Nguyễn Mạnh Tường

Join host Kenneth Nguyen and series co-host Kevin Pham, author of The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization (Oxford University Press, 2024), in this sub-series of the podcast, exploring the key figures and moments in Vietnamese history.

In this episode of Viet History Makers, host Kenneth Nguyen and co-host Kevin Pham explore the life and legacy of Nguyễn Mạnh Tường (1909–1997), a brilliant scholar, lawyer, and intellectual who embodied both the promise and peril of being an independent thinker in 20th-century Vietnam.

One of the most highly educated Vietnamese of his time, Nguyễn Mạnh Tường earned dual doctorates in law and literature in France before returning to Vietnam, where he sought to contribute to his country’s development. Initially a supporter of the revolution, his faith in the new regime was tested as he witnessed its treatment of intellectuals and dissenters. His outspoken critiques—particularly following the repression of the Nhân Văn-Giai Phẩm movement—led to decades of political and professional ostracization.

Despite his erasure from official history for much of his life, Nguyễn Mạnh Tường’s story is a powerful reflection of the complex relationship between the truth presented by intellectuals and power in Vietnam. Was he a principled dissenter, a tragic figure caught in the tides of ideology, or both? Join us as we examine the life of a man who challenged authority with his words—and paid the price.

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Kevin D. Pham is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His research introduces Vietnamese political thought to the academic field of political theory, showing how Vietnamese thinkers challenge and enhance conventional Western understandings of important political concepts.

He co-hosts Nam Phong Dialogues, a podcast in which he and Yen Vu have casual chats about Vietnamese history and being Vietnamese American. He is the author of The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Kevindoanpham.com

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Many of you still have the chance to record and preserve the legacies of your own families. I’ve sat with families now for interview sessions to record the rich histories of parents and explore the lives of the generations that preceded them. Don’t let your family stories go untold! Take a moment to reach out and together we will bring out your family’s story on a recorded journey. - Kenneth Nguyen

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