 Diệm 's government @-@ controlled press overwhelmed Bảo Đại with endless personal propaganda attacks , with special editions of newspapers being devoted to polemical biographical accounts of the former emperor . This allowed Diệm 's campaign to condemn Bảo Đại with much more salacious detail than was possible through mere slogans . This started in August when the daily newspaper Thoi Dai started a three @-@ week series that disseminated unsubstantiated and scandalous details about Bảo Đại 's life . These were written by editorialist Hong Van , who called Bảo Đại a " dung beetle who sold his country for personal glory " . Van claimed Bảo Đại was the illegitimate son of Emperor Khải Định , alleging Khải Định had been infertile and married a maid , before claiming the maid 's son , by another man , as his own . The paper claimed Bảo Đại was " big like a <unk> , had many children , and was very fond of women " while Khải Định was uncomfortable with females , hinting that the different personalities were inconsistent with a common biological lineage . 
