We support such charmers.

Not an indepth post but I was just reading the BBC website's monthly column of obituaries for more obscure people (yes the hallmark of adulthood that is the greater interest in obituaries has hit me) and the first lady of the South Vietnamese regime that was the US puppet until support was switched to a military junta in 1963 has recently died, heres her summary:

Dubbed by her opponents as a latter-day Lucrezia Borgia, Madame Nhu was one of South Asia's most powerful women. She was effectively the first lady of South Vietnam between 1955 and 1963 during the regime of her unmarried brother, Ngo Dinh Diem. She also participated in the nepotism and corruption that was a feature of his presidency, giving government positions to her relatives and living a luxurious lifestyle. She became famous both for her glamorous appearances in figure-hugging clothes and her drive to outlaw abortion and make adultery and divorce illegal. She also attempted to ban beauty pageants, musical entertainment and boxing matches. She was widely condemned for her dismissive attitude to Buddhist monks who had begun setting fire to themselves in public as a protest against Diem's repression of their religion. Her offer to bring fuel and matches to the self-immolations alienated even her own family and, more importantly, undermined American support for the Diem regime. Her power abruptly ended in 1963 when Diem was assassinated, and she was forced into exile in France.

Seriously where do we dig these loonies up from? The article, which cover a lot of more benign figures can be found here.