A Vietnamese Mother’s Letter to Nixon for Mezzo Soprano, Chamber Ensemble, and Live Electronics

To many people, he is a hero. Others label him a plane hijacker. But to his family and friends, he is forever a fervent advocate of peace who died for his cause. His name is Nguyễn Thái Bình, which means “Peace.” The day he was born, Vietnam was still in war, so his parents named him “Peace” with a hope that the war would end soon. The boy grew up to be an excellent South Vietnamese student who earned a scholarship to study at the University of Washington (UW). During his time in the United States, he learned more about the war’s devastation on his homeland, and this harsh reality transformed him into a prominent leader of the anti-war movement in Seattle.

The 1960s and early 70s witnessed the rise of American student activism that spread the antiwar sentiments to the public. However, the lack of authentic voices from Vietnam within these movements underscores the significance of Nguyễn Thái Bình’s legacy. As his activism gained momentum, Nguyễn Thái Bình was deported after having graduated as an honors student from the UW in 1972. On his fateful flight back to Vietnam, he was killed with five bullets in the chest while allegedly attempting to hijack a Pan American flight. It was later discovered that the “bombs” he held were nothing more than lemons wrapped in tin foil.

His tragic death ignited a blazing fire of anguish among many peace-lovers in Vietnam and the United States. Yet, none is more heart-broken than his grieving mother. Imagine sending your promising child to a nation known as the “leader of the free world,” only to have him to come back as a lifeless body tossed out of an airplane.

Not long after his death, his mother, Lê Thị Anh, wrote a letter to President Nixon to plea for further investigation of her son’s death. Regrettably, her letter remained unanswered. However, the power of a mother’s heart and the deafening silence resonated far beyond the confines of history, and now they have found a new voice within my musical composition, A Vietnamese Mother’s Letter to Nixon. The texts in this work are the entirety of Lê Thị Anh’s letter, and I have woven various sounds to capture the raw pain of a mother’s loss and her unwavering pursuit of truth and justice.

To me, this work is a steppingstone toward fulfilling a grander goal: to compose an opera work, His Name Means Peace. This envisioned work will pay tribute to the life and legacy of Nguyễn Thái Bình, a symbol of Vietnamese and Asian students’ pro-peace activism in the United States during the Vietnam War era. This composition will represent not only a remembrance of the past but a dedication to those who, even in our contemporary world, continue to risk their lives for the cause of peace.