An Unwinnable War

However, Diem was a poor controller, a bad ruler. He, along with his brother, made brutal policies against Buddhists and eliminated a large amount of them in the Buddhists sanctuaries of Saigon. Diem's brother Nhu was heavily involved in these activities together with his brother's full support and the army trained by American military advisors (Moss, 2010). Nhu's wife even referred to the Buddhists as "barbecue" on a television show. All of this along with the fact that the Buddhists were denied the right to display their holy flags on the birthday of Buddha caused an immediate outburst in South Vietnam. Heavy protests started taking place and several Buddhist monks even burnt themselves to fatality as

During the Lyndon Baines Johnson presidential administration, both those policy makers who supported America’s involvement in Vietnam and those who opposed the war were part of the “containment generation.” They had reached political maturity during World War II and the early years of the Cold War and had experienced the intense anticommunism of the McCarthy era of the early 1950s. These leaders understood and applied the lessons of American nationalism, which had the primary message that the U.S. was the dominating nation that had to embrace its responsibility to aid and improve nations in America’s image. Therefore, when they saw that there was a threat of the spread of communism to areas of Southeast Asia, a majority of the

When it became clear that Bao Dai could not expel the communists, the United States decided to support the puppet, Ngo Dinh Diem, whose brother abused government powers for personal interests, such as raiding pagodas. After refusing to sign the agreements at the Geneva Conference, the United States elected Diem, who adopted “a policy of peace” as the governor of South Vietnam (Elections). Diem became a key pawn in American attempts of stopping communism, but Diem occasionally disregarded advice and did little to end the poverty that plagued the majority of the Vietnamese. In early efforts of containing communism, the United States made an alliance with Southeast Asia, known as the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, or SEATO, to protect the developing egalitarian nations from falling to the Marxists. However, Diem’s brother, Nhu, took the top position in the government and abused its

Diem's nationalism and administrative experience made him the logical choice for the premiership of an independent Vietnam, but he was lacking many qualities that were required for the challenges he would face. Herring admits that even now it is unclear how Diem became the premier of Vietnam. The US did not think that Diem was capable of controlling the nation, but at the same time, "there was no one to take his place who would serve US interests better"(55). Through his bungling of responsibilities, Diem was found to be nothing but trouble for the United States and France, therefore; officials in Saigon were convinced that he must be removed. Now the experiment in nation building assumed the form of a crusade. Private charitable agencies provided food, soap, toothbrushes and emergency medical supplies. American money and technology helped to repair the vast damages resulting from more than a decade of war. More than any other single group, American aid allowed South Vietnam to survive the first few critical years after independence. By the late 1950s it appeared as though the new nation was flourishing.

Subsequently, and dependent on Diem’s lack of response to pressure from the United States regarding the Buddhist crisis, the Kennedy administration decided to participate in a coup to overthrow him (Toong, 2008). The final straw was the pagoda raids on August 21 and Diem’s declaration of martial law with threats to shoot and kill Americans on the

Canada played a vital role in the Vietnam War, and what many people did not realize that if Canada had not taken a supporting part in the War, the communist forces most likely would have won the War quicker and there would have been more casualties. The Vietnam war was one of the most laborious and oppressive wars in American history. When Vietnam got its independence from France there was a division between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The south was anti-communist, and thus supported by the United States (US) and the North was a communist state, supported by The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

In response to the increased threat of North Vietnam, recently elected President John F. Kennedy increased America’s presence in Vietnam without intervening by increasing the number of economic, military, and political advisers “from 800 in 1961, when [he] took office, to 16,700 in 1963.” However, once Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson was elected and was accused of not doing enough to prevent this “domino theory” of falling into communism from happening.

In the book Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, author Stephen Kinzer argued the many events that led to America’s long term failure of “regime change” in Iraq. I believe that the most compelling case for Kinzer’s argument of long term failure for the United States has to be when America tried to overthrow the leader, President Ngo Dihn Diem, of Vietnam whilst we were aiding the country. Even if America thought that getting a new leader would be better in the war against North Vietnam. This case was different than the others. For example, instead of just targeting person or a movement, the United States was targeting the leader of Vietnam during the time where America was aiding them in the way. In turn, when President John F. Kennedy and his advisors were together for a final meeting to overthrow Diem, Kennedy never gave a clear decision. Three days later, President Ngo Dihn Diem was murdered. This, of course, caused controversy and a major dilemma between Vietnam and the United States and eventually led to a strain between the two

From the beginning, the people of America had a distrust in the government when they first began to involve themselves in the Vietnam War. The United States feared that communism would overtake the world, and, unlike the majority of its citizens, the government of America felt it their responsibility to prevent this from happening. An opportunity presented itself in which America could aid in the prevention of the overtaking of Vietnam by a communist government. South Vietnam and North Vietnam were separated at the seventeenth parallel, and South Vietnam wanted it to remain that way and to become its own independent country and democracy. However, North Vietnam and its leader, Ho Chi Minh, wanted to unite both North and South Vietnam under communist rule. In 1954, President Eisenhower put into effect America’s plan to halt the spread of communism. Eisenhower sent a letter to Ngo Dinh Diem, the Prime Minister of South Vietnam, with America’s plans and motives in efforts to gain the trust of a possible new American ally. The citizens of America saw this, not as an opportunity, but as a danger to their precious country. The American government viewed South Vietnam’s situation as a cry for

Ngo Dinh Diem was the first president of South Vietnam from 1955 until he was murdered in 1963. Ngo Dinh Diem was an anti-communist, who replaced Bao Dai in the South Vietnamese government in 1955. Diem refused to follow the Geneva accords, as he did not allow for South Vietnam to participate in free elections. Diem also executed hundred of Buddhists, as Diem was Roman Catholic, and this led to a retraction of support from the United States. In a coup d’état, Diem was assassinated, and the void of power left behind threw Vietnam into chaos and led to a civil war. Diem’s presidency and death weakened South Vietnam and left it susceptible to communism from the

The United States began to support South Vietnam, but Diem proved to be a horrible leader and in 1963 was killed during a coup issued by John F. Kennedy. The National Liberation

From 1954-1963, Diem presided over an increasingly corrupt, devious, and repressive regime. Communist guerrillas backed by North Vietnam launched a new rebellion, but a civil disobedience campaign led by the country's Buddhist monks contributed more directly to his downfall. Brutal persecution of the dissident monks in 1963 damaged the regime's already shaky international reputation. With American support, Vietnamese

Diem helped rule the South of Vietnam with the Emperor Bao Dai, until he removed the Emperor and replaced him with himself. He then further abused his position and appointed his family and friends with the most beneficial positions. He then introduced new laws and taxes which greatly upset the peasants, especially with the new farming policies. It was these laws that led to protests such as the Monks which burnt themselves to death as they were unable to practise freely. Unfortunately for America the harm Diem was creating and led to an increase in their involvement.

---Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese with the assistance of the southern communist Vietcong, tried to take over the government in South Vietnam, and in November 1963 President Diem was overthrown and executed. The following year, the North Vietnamese began a massive drive to conquer the whole country aided by China and Russia.

An agreement according to which Vietnam was to be divided at the 17th parallel until elections scheduled for 1956. After which the Vietnamese would establish a unified government. In 1959, North Vietnam became involved in war again. Guerrillas popularly known as the Vietcong were conducting an armed revolt against the U.S. sponsored regime of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam. On July 17, 1966, Ho Chi Minh sent a message to the people saying “nothing is as dear to the heart of the Vietnamese as independence and liberation”. That became the motto of the North Vietnamese cause. Ho lived to see only the beginning of a long round of negotiations before he