How Did Ngo Dinh Diem Left Vietnam

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

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.

In order to combat communism in Vietnam, the United States sent troops to fight the Viet Minh, the Northern Vietnamese forces, as well as tried to create a democratic alternative to communism. Their primary objective from 1954 to 1956 was to create a stable government rooted in popular support. They chose Ngo Dinh Diem to lead the artificially created South Vietnam. The United States believed that Ngo was the best choice because he was adamantly anti-communist. He was to, with American support, unify South Vietnam and then later North Vietnam as well. The United States, however, failed to realize that Ngo was also adamantly nationalist; meaning, he was willing to listen American advice, but he was also very willing to disregard it. America's error is most clearly exemplified by the passage of Ngo¡¯s oppressive and undemocratic Law 10/59. In 1956, cancels the elections and tears up the Geneva Accords. It is important to note that the United States supported all of Ngo's actions up to this point. Through their ¡°cold war goggles¡±, they are unable to see Ngo for what he is. They accept his resolutions as anti-communist actions. They dedicate themselves to the protection of South Vietnam. It did not become clear to them until 1961 that Ngo had failed in his mission of creating a government

The overall efforts of the United States in Vietnam has been described as a ‘war of liberation’ this can also be used to define Eisenhower’s overall policy towards Vietnam as it was based fundamentally on the fear that it was ‘certain that the fall of Vietnam to Communism would lead to the loss of all of Southern Asia’ and in an attempt to prevent this; his administration adopted a new policy of nation building. The overall aim of nation building was to build a Western government within Vietnam that would be strong enough to withstand Communism and also build a new Vietnamese nation. This was done by appointing Diem; a Catholic, to run North Vietnam with the belief that him acting as a figurehead would make it less likely for Ho Chin Minh to take power of Vietnam. Herring further explains ‘The Eisenhower administration after Geneva firmly committed itself to creating in the Southern part of the country a nation that would stand as a bulwark against Communist expansion.’ However, this did not happen without its consequences, for example: this over amplified American’s commitment to Vietnam by following the precedent policies by Truman aligned the United States with unstable and unrepresentative regime, and ultimately failed in laying the foundations for a completely stable nation as David L Anderson explained America

As it would appear from documented accounts, the Eisenhower administration made a full-scale commitment to the Diem regime in wake of the aftermath of the others success in terms of the rebellion. It seemed that the promotion of the South Vietnamese accomplishments provided the United States with more than one billion dollars gross revenue in terms of the economy, and aided the military with enlistments, and such between the dates of 1955 and 1961. The United States used their militia advisors to build an army in the South of Vietnam with the idea that they’d be able to fend off any, and all anticipated attacks from the north across the seventeen parallel. The civilians also assisted in the “war” and remilitarization effort by constructing

Diem was very much a nationalist, but not communist, and this is what drew the Americans to Diem. The need had arisen to replace the Bao Dai emperorship, for in the eyes of many Vietnamese it was a sham and the only other alternative was that of the communists and Ho Chi Minh. Diem understood this and he, “insisted that France’s “Bao Dai solution” was all but handing Indochina to the Viet Minh. Only a Vietnamese leader who had not collaborated with either the French or Communists could succeed in forming a government to rival that of Ho” (28). His arguments of Vietnamese nationalism made sense to many political figures in Washington, thus putting him further in the front running for American support. Diem also secured further support from his Catholic faith, which put him in good with many influential figures in America, such as Cardinal Spellman who was very influential in right wing political circles. Faith was a very strong motivator

After the self-immolation it was not only the Buddhist that were protesting against Diem leadership, it was people from everywhere. The group got increasingly bigger joining to support the Buddhists to bring his Diem’s leadership down. This event brought pressure on the United States because they were the ones that were supporting Diem’s in his governance. “The officials brought intense pressure on Diem to rescind the ban and conciliate the Buddhists.” Diem did not listen; he did not act on the U.S. request to make peace with the Buddhist. Instead his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu who was the right hand for Diem’s condemned the Buddhists cry for help. “On August 21, 1963 Diem and Nhu perpetrated a series of wanton acts that sealed their fate”(Moss, p.106). Nhu carried out several malicious acts instead of encouraging Diem to pacify the Buddhist. “The American trained praetorian guards and police forces take on a cascade of midnight raids on pagodas all over South Vietnam, over 2,000 temples were raided, they arrested more than 1400 monks, nuns, neophytes and ordinary citizen and initiated a curfew.”(p.106). Ngo Dinh Nhu even instigated Diem to disobey the American request and further “suppress the Buddhist revolt”(p.105). The Americans were getting very disappointed with Diem behavior against the Buddhist and his disobedience to change his regime. Although the Americans were supporting him

Diem was therefore determined to be the best man for the job of preventing communism in S. Vietnam. One reason is most likely because he was “Westernized” being that he “lived for some time in the Mayknoll Seminaries in New Jersey and New York State” (Genesis 116). He quickly gained the approval of American Catholics such as Cardinal Spellman, which “certified Diem as an important anti-Communist” (Scheer 116). Some Americans were skeptical of Diem at the time, but as Secretary John Foster Dulles simply stated, “the United States could simply not find ‘a better man’ to carry out its designs” and “Diem is only means US sees to save South Vietnam and counteract revolution. US sees no one else who can” (Gettleman 133). This is, however, a little unsettling being that it sounds as though the U.S. merely “settled” on Diem in lieu of a better candidate.

United State’s Cold War policy was beginning to come into play by this time. The U.S. was concerned with the domino theory, which believed that the communist overtake of North Vietnam would cause other countries in surrounding regions to adopt the ideology. In the interest of the U.S. to support South Vietnam, they back an anti-communist politician named Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1955, Diem took control of the South Vietnamese government with the support of the U. S. Later in

The Vietcong, who supported communism in the North, opposed the ruling of Ngo Dinh Diem. The United States eventually forgot about the Vietnamese conflict due to other foreign affairs, but due to the increased threat of Communists taking over all of Indochina, they were pulled back into the conflict.

America had back the dictator Diem in hopes to stop North Vietnam from advancing. King believed and stated many times that the war in Vietnam was an obstacle to social and economics programs in the United States. King believed that America had a an irrational fear of communism. King along with many of his colleges realized that focusing of Vietnam more than Civil Rights was counterproductive to the civil rights movement. King compared us to oppressing the Vietnamese like how we were oppressing the blacks in America.

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

---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.