Ngo Dinh Diem During The Vietnam War

Mintz and McNeil of Digital History state that Vietnam, like Cambodia and Laos, was a French colony until it gained its independence after the First Indochina War. The Northern supporters and Southern dissenters of communism divided Vietnam during this time. The Geneva Accords, created after the war in 1954, required Vietnam to hold an election between the leaders of the North and South after two years. The US was afraid of what would follow if the North were to win, and decided to intervene in the hopes of stopping the spread of communism. With help from the US, South Vietnam avoided the agreement's orders and cancelled this election; power went to the South Vietnamese prime minister instead.

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 book, Cold War Mandarin Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America’s War in Vietnam 1950-1963, by Seth Jacobs is a comprehensive retelling of the rise and fall of Ngo Dinh Diem’s government in South Vietnam. In that retelling Jacob focuses on the major events that took place in Vietnam as well as showed how America backed a leader that did nothing to booster his nation and led America into one of the worst wars in its history. The Diem regime was a corrupt and tyrannical government that used the United States’ fears of communism to push its own goals that ultimately led to its own demise. Jacob viewed the escalation of America’s involvement in Vietnam as the following, “The nine-year “experiment” that ended when Diem died was

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

Compared to Vietnam, America had very different ambitions and motives within the war. The U.S. was part of a large goal, known as “containment”, which was essentially stopping the spread of Communism. America believed that Communism Now in order for America to fulfill their goal of having an anti-communist society, they needed a powerful and determined leader who would vouch for them and support their belief of abolishing communism. Which is why in October 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem defeated the former emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, and appointed himself president of South Vietnam ("Ngo Dinh Diem."). Ngo Dinh Diem was originally a Vietnamese political leader who was born into one of the noble families of Vietnam. Diem was well known by the Vietnamese

The United States played a very crucial role in the conflict that occurred in Southeast Asia between the U.S.-backed democratic South Vietnam, and Soviet-backed communist North Vietnam. Following the defeat of its French administration in 1954, North Vietnam, led by Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, wanted to reunify the country with the help of its rebel allies in the south, known as the Viet Cong. Out of this chaos emerged a difficult situation for the United States, as Cold War sentiments were present within this proxy war between the two powerful nations and the third party of Vietnam. The United States wanted to support Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam, in order to ensure his government would not fall into ruins and be taken control by the communists, but President Eisenhower was also hesitant to get his troops involved in this large scale conflict in Southeast Asia.

South Vietnam became detached from the Communist North in 1954. Seeing their opportunities, the Americans decided to make a move against the North Vietnamese “to stop the spread of communism all over south-east Asia” (Trueman). They mainly targeted the third-world nations around their mighty Communist enemy, the Russians. The competition started between the two parties

According to A&E Television network “ North Vietnam government and Viet Cong were fighting to reunify vietnam”. “The U.S didn't want Vietnam to become a communist state because they thought it would lead to communism spreading throughout all South Asia” wrote A&E Television Networks. The war started November 1, 1955 and the U.S joined the war March 8, 1965 by U.S president Richard Nixon. According to A&E Television Network “This was the first war that the U.S lost”. With bad conditions this was the start of a long, expensive, and deathly war for the soldiers in the war and the people back home in the

However despite this the Vietminh relentlessly used every resource at their disposal to conquer the hill. This was such a humiliating defeat for the French that it persuaded them to pull out of the war. The Geneva Agreement proposed that Vietnam would be split in two, and elections would be held every 2 years to determine who would run the country. But America failed to agree and refused to sign as it believed it was to the benefit of communism. Ngo Dinh Diem was the southern Vietnamese Prime minister, he and his government were supported by the Americans despite being extremely corrupt.

The Vietnam conflict began long before the U.S. became directly involved. Indochina, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, was under French colonial rule. The Vietnam communist-nationalist, also known as the Vietminh, fought for their freedom from the French. The French were being slaughtered, and were doing little to keep the communist North Vietnamese out of South Vietnam. The U.S. sent financial aid to France to help them eliminate the communist threat. At the Geneva Conference in 1954, the major powers tried to come to an agreement on Indochina. There would be a temporary division on the 17th parallel in Vietnam. The Vietminh would control North Vietnam, and South Vietnam would be ruled under the emperor Bao Dai. There was to be an election held in two years to set up the permanent

The Vietnam war was a long, armed conflict which heated between communist rule of North Vietnam, allied by Viet Cong and South Vietnam and its principle ally, the United States of America. The region was in fog of conflict from mid-1940’s, when the Viet Minh party was formed by Ho Chi Minh, a communist leader who was inspired by the Soviet Communism, to fight Japan and French Colonial administration during the World War II. After the Japanese forces left Vietnam, and French Emperor Bao Dai was in control of an independent region, Ho Chi Min rose to power, and declared himself as president of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

JFK told troops in 1961: “The United States is determined to help Vietnam preserve its independence, protect its people against Communist assassins…” Kennedy wanted people to believe that Soviet supported Communism was another force coming to take command of Vietnam (Faber 117). The way the U.S. acted was that of any government turned to communism was taken over by the Soviet Union and not their own independent land. In 1945, Ho Chi Minh sent a series of letters to President Truman asking for support in their efforts to rebuild the country (Course Slides 8). At that time, there was no indication that Vietnam would be taking aid or guidance from the Soviet Union. In fact, Minh was asking for U.S. help. President Johnson spoke of the war as if it would come to an easy end and be welcomed by the South Vietnamese “ The central issue of the conflict…is the aggression by North Vietnam…If that aggression is stopped, the people and government of South Vietnam will be free to settle their own future-“ (Faber 117). However, many people in South Vietnam were not happy with the U.S. installed government and the role that the Americans were playing in their country. In November1960, the overthrow of Diem was

Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, also known as the Viet Minh, a previous political party transformed into a guerilla force led by a devoted Communist, Ho Chi Minh. Minh’s ultimate goal was for Vietnam to gain independence from European ruling – the French and to be free from Vietnam’s enemy, Japan. By July 1954, the Geneva Agreement was signed granting Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam their independence The Geneva Agreement created a demarcation line at the 17th parallel temporarily separating the military of the French and the Viet Minh between the French and Vietnam, and excluded United States. The Soviet Union and Communist China violated the agreement by providing Ho Chi Minh with more weapons and equipment. Minh was relentless in his motivation to dethrone the government leader, Diem, in the South. Political leader of South Vietnam, Ngo Din Diem faced multiple oppositions from the Soviet Union and the communist regime, but Diem was fully supported by the U.S. Military Advisers.

There was North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (or more commonly known as Republic of Vietnam). South Vietnam was a dictatorship, ruled by a man named Ngo Dinh Diem; however, he was killed by his troops, with the CIA’s approval. Only a couple days after the murder of the U.S. president John F. Kennedy. However, North Vietnam before the war was known as a Democracy, under the eyes of Ho Chi Minh. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was a turning point after the first Indochina War (1946–54).

---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.