As the Chicago Headline Club turns 100 this year, we’re looking back on notable moments in our history.
Here’s a remembrance from former Headline Club president Howard Dubin:
During a public relations tour of the U.S. in the fall of 1963, Madame Nhu. Vietnam’s de facto first lady, spoke to the Chicago Headline Club. We filled Chicago’s largest hotel ballroom and balcony to hear her belittle the Kennedy administration by questioning American motives.
Americans dubbed her “dragon lady” and President John F. Kennedy was said to have called her a “goddamn bitch” so she drew a large crowd who wanted to see and hear this person of international intrigue. Both Time and Life magazines had featured her on their covers. Meanwhile, the first U.S. soldiers had been killed by the Viet Cong, the U.S. started spraying the chemical Agent Orange and the Buddhist majority in the South also was rebelling against the Diem regime. Kennedy was losing trust in Diem’s ability to lead such a fractured nation and Madame Nhu only added to that anxiety.
Read her obituary here.
Read other Chicago Headline Club History stories:
Headline Club History: Holiday Book Bash
Headline Club History: Front Page Film Festival
History of the Chicago Headline Club