Nguyen Huu Bai

Who is Nguyen Huu Bai?

Nguyễn Hữu Bài was a Minister of the Interior in the Royal Court of Emperor Bảo Đại.

Bài was raised in Confucian ideals but was a Roman Catholic. He had taught Ngô Đình Diệm when he was a member of the royal court in the imperial capital of Huế, Vietnam. When the 13-year old Bảo Đại returned to his studies in France after ascending the throne in 1926 Nguyễn Hữu Bài resumed leadership of the council of ministers of Annam, the protectorate occupying the central two thirds of French Indochina.

Lý Thường Kiệt Street in Hanoi became known as phố Sinh Từ, due to a temple built to honour Bài while he was still alive, until 1908 when it was renamed Rue Duvillier by the French.