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 …show more content…
Diem stood at odds with Ho Chi Minh who was, “eager to expand his base of support, Ho reached out to anti-communist nationalists: he especially wanted to attract Vietnam’s Catholic minority, and understood that the presence of a predominant Catholic in his first coalition cabinet would go a long way to accomplish this goal” (22). Diem refused to work with the Viet Minh and upon breaking communications with them would then work organize an anti-Viet Minh political party.
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
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.
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 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
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
In 1943, the Cao Dai army was established during the Japanese occupation of Indochina. After this war, the Cao Dai army was an effective force in national politics. The problem with being an effective force in politics is that the Cao Dai army first supported than opposed Premier Ngo Dinh Diem, a communist. When the army opposed the communists, a communist takeover occurred. This action then oppressed Cao Dai. Secretly, the believers of Cao Dai reconstructed temples, and restarted the religion. Cao Dai has since than built the religion over 4 to 6 million
Based off of what I read in the book it appears to me that even though Ho Chi Minh sided with the communists he was more interested in the freedom of the Vietnamese people more than anything. I think that if the Soviets or the Chinese tried to tell him how to run his country just like the United States did then he would have broken contacts with them and would have sought allies from somewhere else. Because at the end of the day Ho Chi Minh’s main objective was liberation by any means necessary no matter who he sided with. As page 24 from Herring’s book states “Although a dedicated communist, Ho Chi Minh was no tool of the Kremlin, he accepted help from the communists but he wouldn’t give up Vietnamese independence to them (Herring 24).” Ho
forces. (“National Security Council: Study on U.S. Policy on All-Vietnam Elections”) In addition, the United States of America, a country founded on the basis of religious freedom, had difficulty with the persecution of Buddhists in South Vietnam. South Vietnamese president, Ngo Dinh Diem, who was raised Catholic, refused to repeal anti-Buddhist laws even though Buddhism was the predominant religion in South Vietnam. The last straw for the Buddhists was when they were prohibited by the South Vietnamese government from carrying flags on Buddha’s birthday. In protest, a Buddhist monk set himself on fire and thirty additional monks were killed in a government raid. (Willbanks)
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
Ngo Dihn Diem is an autocratic leader who opposed the French Colonialism and Communism. Ngo Dihn Diem opposes the French colonial rule and the Viet Minh, during and after the Second World War, which was
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.
The leader of this communist introduction and development in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh, born Nguyen Tat Thanh, grew up with a passion for freeing his country of the French. Ho Chi Minh worked hard on his French when his tutor told him, “If you want to defeat the French, you must understand them. To understand the French you must study the French language.” Ho Chi Minh’s patriotism developed mainly from his Chinese-language instructor, Hoang Thong, who was anti- French himself. Thong believed that losing one’s family was worse than losing one’s country. Ho Chi Minh’s first involvement against political action came on May 9, 1908 when he joined a peasant uprising as a translator. Attempting to translate in the front of the crowd, he was beaten and forced to hide at his friend’s house at night to prevent being arrested. In the following years, Ho Chi Minh yearned to go overseas; he said to journalist Anna Louise Strong, “The people of Vietnam, including my own father, often wondered who would help them to remove them the yoke of French control…I saw that I must go abroad to see for myself. After I had found out how they lived, I
1. How NSC-68 influenced America’s response to Communist North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in June 1950 and to Communist expansion in Southeast Asia in the 1960s. The NSC-68 called for military assistance programs that would meet the requirements of our allies. Since South Korea was an ally, we assisted them in repelling the invasion of another communist nation. This help for South Korea meant that a communist nation would be weakened and therefore possibly cripple a potential ally for the Soviet Union. Also, South Korea would then respond to a call for aid if the Soviet Union ever attacked
Many different groups in Vietnam would use the American press to express their opinions to the American people. When Diem was in power, he oppressed the people of South Vietnam.
The Cold War was a response to the perceived threat by the United States that Communism would interfere with national security and economic stakes in the world. It was a perceived threat by communist countries that the United States would take to the world. During the Cold War, the United States, Russia, and other countries made efforts to avoid another world war, while warring in proxy in other lands. The devastation caused by the hydrogen bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the next technological advancements became only deterrents to the public. Governments had their own agenda which would result in worsening the strain between nations. The United States hid behind a curtain of nationalism resulting in increased