Characteristics Of Ngo Dinh Diem

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

For the sake of conciseness, and in order to focus the bulk of the content on the main topic, this essay will make certain assumptions. Most importantly, the essay assumes that the conflict in Vietnam was, indeed, lost by the US. It also presupposes that � due to the political climate in the US � the war itself was unavoidable. Finally, the essay takes for granted

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

The Vietnam War lasted longer, bloodier, and more hostile than any U.S. President or American citizen imagined. Lyndon Johnson faced many other enemies during the war such as the duration, the immense number of deaths, and for the first time in most American’s history, failure. Through deep evaluation of Lyndon B. Johnson’s foreign policies as President during the Vietnam war, failure was a recurring outcome, as he faced military and political difficulties over having complete authority over political decisions made leading to the misuse of his respective power, receiving split support through torn Americans at home, and his accord to deport so many troops into combat in Vietnam.

No one person wakes in the morning and decides to tackle years of institutional rule without thinking certain doom, discomfort, or in some cases, death. Citizens living during the times within the United States (1775 – 1784) and Vietnam (1955 – 1975) decided to fight as one voice, for a cause they believed and shared together. This unified voice, the will of the people, started as a single voice. Soon there were many voices with the same cry, to push out policies, ideals, and laws that were not their own. Peaceful talks, debates, or discussions did not work, soon there was no other means but the violence to break the will to continue.

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.

Diem’s reaction to this event was denying responsibility and he put the blame on communists. Despite repeated encouragement from the United States government to reconcile with the Buddhists, Diem remained unyielding and asserted that there was no presence of religious persecution (Toong, 2008). The height of the Buddhist crisis was reached when Thich Quang Duc ignited himself and burned to death in as a protest in the street in front of a large crowd in Saigon (Moss, 2010). The appalling images of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc were spread throughout the world by international media coverage. Demonstrations by the Buddhists and retaliation by the GVN continued to escalate to a point where the United States could no longer support the Diem government, which despite financial assistance that amounted to over $1,000,000 per day and the support of the American military, refused to cooperate (Toong, 2008).

The War in Vietnam remains to be a blemish of American foreign policy today and remains as a crisp thought to those who lived it. As the decades pass away through the sands of time, historians and civilians alike further their wonder of who was truly responsible for this calamity. Verily, this war was the full responsibility of Lyndon Johnson because he failed to learn from former presidents of why fighting was happening, he accrued some of Kennedy’s inept advisors and, he was selfish in terms of the reason why he gave the approval for war.

Assess the importance of nationalism to the Vietnamese up to 1965. A clear desire for nationalism and self-nationalism in Vietnam was evident as early as the 15th century, when historian Nguyen Trai stated “although we have been at times strong, and at times weak, we have always been Vietnamese and this will never change.” The importance and significance of nationalism and establishing a sense of self-determination was of vital concernment to the Vietnamese, in both the North and South of the country. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North) and the Republic of Vietnam (South) were both driving forces in the ambition of self-determination and their established sense of nationalism regardless of the

society. It may be inferred that that part of the Vietnamization policy was a success, as it worked. The part that failed and brought about an unsuccessful end to the Vietnamization policy was getting the Southern Vietnamese forces to have the moral dedication and ambition to defend their own country and keep Communism away. Furthermore, it must be stated that the reason for the failure of the Vietnamization policy was not just due to the failure of the Southern Vietnamese military, as the people themselves as a whole were not seeking victory for their nation. The Southern Vietnamese population simply wanted to avoid defeat in and of itself. Additionally, the U.S. leaders were unaware of the grim results of their struggles to

The two kinds of Dau Tranh, political and armed, worked together during the war to ensure North Vietnamese and VC victory. (Pike, 224-225)

The history of recent years in the Indochina conflict has been an eventful one. It will exhibit to the eyes of the future student some of the most remarkable instances of a ruthlessness and indifference to common humanity. Moreover, it will, I believe, demonstrate that North Vietnam has, for a long time, steadily pursued a communist regime which was deliberately designed to produce a subjugation of other countries by the threat of communism.

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.

From the beginning of his term, Diem felt that North Vietnam was planning to forcefully take over South Vietnam. Diem began to arrest anyone who was suspected of being a Communist. Soon after, North Vietnam began attempting to reunify Vietnam through political means, and not through the use of violence. After this proved to be an unsuccessful attempt, North Vietnam and the Communist Party finally approved the use of violence to overthrow Ngo Dinh Diems government. The National Liberation Front (NLF) was thus developed by the Communists, allowing anyone who was against Diem and for the unification of Vietnam to join to join their alliance.