Ngo Dinh Diem

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Ngo Dinh Diem
First President of the Republic of Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem
In office
26 October 1955 – 2 November 1963
Preceded by None
Succeeded by Duong Van Minh
Born 3 January 1901
Hue
Died 2 November 1963
Saigon
Spouse none

Ngô Đình Diệm Jean Baptiste (help·info) «ngoh dihn zih-ehm» (January 3, 1901 – November 2, 1963) was the first President of South Vietnam (1955–1963).

Contents

[edit] Rise to power

Ngô Đình Diệm was born in Huế, the original capital of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam. His Ngô family was Roman Catholic and aristocratic,[1] dating back to the seventeenth Century.[2] He was one of the highest ranking officials of the Nguyễn Dynasty under Emperor Bảo Đại before World War II but resigned once it became clear that the French would not honor their commitment to delegate real power to Vietnamese officials.[3] He was nationalistic, devout Catholic, anti-Communist, and preferred the philosophies of personalism and Confucianism[4] His elder brother, Ngô Đình Thục, was the archbishop of Huế.

In 1945, he was imprisoned and exiled to China following conflicts with anti-French Communist forces that were gaining power in Vietnam. After his release, he refused to join in the brief post-war government of Hồ Chí Minh and went into exile in the United States. He returned to be appointed Prime Minister of South Vietnam by former Emperor and then-current Chief of State Bảo Đại in 1954, on the condition that he be given total control over all civilian and military matters.[5]

Diệm's appointment came after the French had been defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and were ready to withdraw from Indochina. Many Americans and Europeans held out little hope for the future of South Vietnam under Diem's leadership, with one U.S. official describing his government in Time magazine as being held together by "Scotch tape, bits of string and putty."[6] At the same time, the U.S. government attempted to raise public awareness within the United States of the 'plight' of South Vietnam and its 'beleaguered' leader.

When a referendum was held on October 23, 1955, on whether to turn South Vietnam into a republic, Diệm's troops guarded the polls and those who attempted to vote for the Emperor were assaulted. Observers say that the fraud was obvious.[citation needed] In Saigon, for example, Diệm claimed more votes than there were registered voters in the entire area. (Ex-Emperor) Chief of State Bảo Đại was forced to abdicate rather than divide the country further and issued one last appeal for the country to unite under a democratic government. Diệm's position was backed by the United States, while the long-absent former monarch could not have posed much of a popular threat from his château in France.

On October 26, 1955, Diem became President of the Republic of Vietnam, and Bảo Đại was deposed and continued to live as an exile in France until his death.

[edit] Rule

Diệm's rule was authoritarian and nepotistic. His most trusted official was his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, leader of the primary pro-Diệm political party. Ngô Đình Cẩn, his other brother, was put in charge of the former Imperial City of Huế. Another brother, Ngô Đình Luyện, was appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom and also put in charge of the Cham people minorities in the Central Plains of Vietnam.

Madame Nhu, the wife of his brother Nhu, was South Vietnam's First Lady and she led the way in Diệm's programs to reform Saigon society in accordance with their Catholic values. Brothels and opium dens were closed, divorce and abortion made illegal, and adultery laws were strengthened. Diệm also won a street war with the forces of the gangster Le Van Vien, the notorious ruler of the Cholon brothels and gambling houses who had enjoyed special favors under the French and Bảo Đại. Diệm was also passionately anti-Communist. Tortures and killings of "communist suspects" were committed on a daily basis.[citation needed]

As opposition to Diem's rule in South Vietnam grew, a low-level insurgency began to take shape there in 1957. Finally, in January 1959, under pressure from southern cadres who were being successfully targeted by Diem's secret police, Hanoi's Central Committee issued a secret resolution authorizing the use of armed struggle in the South. On 12 December 1960, under instruction from Hanoi, southern communists established the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam in order to overthrow the government of the south. The NLF was made up of two distinct groups: South Vietnamese intellectuals who opposed the government and were nationalists; and communists who had remained in the south after the partition and regrouping of 1954 as well as those who had since come from the north. While there were many non-communist members of the NLF, they were subject to the control of the party cadres and increasingly side-lined as the conflict continued; they did, however, enable the NLF to portray itself as a primarily nationalist, rather than communist, movement.

The cornerstone of Diem's counterinsurgency effort was the Strategic Hamlet Program, which called for the consolidation of 14,000 villages of South Vietnam into 11,000 secure hamlets, each with its own houses, schools, wells, and watchtowers. The hamlets were intended to isolate the NLF from the villages, their source of recruiting soldiers, supplies and information.

A member of the Catholic Vietnamese minority, Diệm's pursuit of pro-Catholic policies antagonized many Buddhists, who formed the majority of the population. State police were often accused of assaulting Buddhists.[citation needed] Activists staged mass protests and even self-immolations culminating in several coup attempts, the final one resulting in Diệm's own death. At one point the U.S., noting widespread Buddhist anger at Diem's draconian religious biases, requested him to redress their grievances, to no avail. As Diem became more obdurate, the U.S. dissociated themselves from his anti-Buddhist policies.[7]

[edit] Ties with the United States

Diem along with U.S. President Eisenhower on a visit to the United States in May 1957
Diem along with U.S. President Eisenhower on a visit to the United States in May 1957

Diệm forged a controversial relationship with the United States for support, while retaining policies that were independent from the United States.

[edit] Coup and assassination

The regime's relations with the U.S. worsened during 1963, as well as heightening discontent among South Vietnam's Buddhist majority.

In May, in the central city of Huế, where Diệm's elder brother was the archbishop, Buddhists were prohibited from displaying Buddhist flags during Vesak celebrations commemorating the birth of Gautama Buddha. Less than a month earlier, Catholics were allowed to fly religious flags at another celebration. This lead to a protest against the government, which was suppressed by Diệm's forces, killing nine unarmed civilians. As demonstrations against his government continued throughout the summer, the special forces loyal to Diem's brother Nhu raided the Xa Loi Pagoda in Saigon in August, arresting around 1400 monks, and injury thirty as well as damaging property. The US indicated their disapproval of Diem's adminstartion when their ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge visited the Pagoda in the aftermath.[8]

A turning point came in June when a Buddhist monk, Thích Quảng Đức, set himself on fire in the middle of a busy Saigon intersection in protest at Diem's policies, photos of which were transmitted around the world and for many people came to represent the failure of Diem's government.[citation needed] A further number of monks publicly self-immolated themselves, and the U.S. grew increasingly frustrated with the unpopular leader's public image in both Vietnam and the United States. Diệm claimed that the communists had infiltrated the Buddhist groups, and that the crackdown was in accordance with the agreed-upon anti-communist policy.

On orders from U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Henry Cabot Lodge, the American ambassador to South Vietnam, refused to meet with Diệm. Upon hearing that a coup d'etat was being designed by ARVN Generals led by General Dương Văn Minh, the United States gave secret assurances to the generals that the U.S. would not interfere. Dương Văn Minh and his fellow plotters overthrew the government on November 2, 1963.

The coup was very swift. On November 1, 1963, with only the palace guard remaining to defend President Diệm and his younger brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, the generals called the palace offering Diệm safe exile out of the country if they surrendered. But that evening, they snuck out of the palace through an underground passage to Cholon, where they were captured the following morning, November 2. The brothers were executed in the back of an armored personnel carrier that was taking them to Vietnamese Joint General Staff headquarters.[9] Diem was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery next to the house of the US ambassador, Lodge.[10]

The United States publicly expressed shock and disappointment that Diệm had been killed.

[edit] Repercussions of Diệm's assassination

Upon learning of Diem's ouster and death, Ho Chi Minh is reported to have said, "I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid."[11] The North Vietnamese Politburo, was more explicit, predicting: "The consequenses of the 1. November coup d'état will be contrary to the calculations of the U.S. imperialists... Diem was one of the strongest individuals resisting the people and Communism. Everything that could be done in an attempt to crush the revolution was carried out by Diem. Diem was one of the most competent lackeys of the U.S. imperialists... Among the anti-Communists in South Vietnam or exiled in other countries, no one has sufficient political assets and abilities to cause others to obey. Therefore, the lackey administration cannot be stabilized. The coup d'état on 1. November 1963 will not be the last."[12]

These statements proved prescient. After Diem's assassination, South Vietnam was unable to establish a stable government and numerous coups took place during the first several years after his death. In addition, South Vietnam's military position deteriorated substantially.[13]. While the U.S. continued to influence South Vietnam's government, the assassination bolstered the North Vietnamese attempts to characterize the South Vietnamese as supporters of colonization.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ngo Dinh Diem - University of Wisconsin
  2. ^ Anthony Trawick Bouscaren, 'The Last of the Mandarins: Diem of Vietnam,' Duquesene University Press, Pittsburgh, Penna, 1965. P13.
  3. ^ Mark Moyar, Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965 (Cambridge Univ. Press 2006), 13.
  4. ^ Id. 36; Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History (Penguin Press 1991), 326.
  5. ^ Moyar, Triumph Forsaken, 33.
  6. ^ 'The Beleaguered Man' Time April 4, 1955
  7. ^ [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/pent6.htm The Pentagon Papers Gravel Edition Vol. 2] - Mt. Holyoke College
  8. ^ Gettleman, pp278-283
  9. ^ The Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2 Ch. 4 "The Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, May-November, 1963," pp. 201-276,
  10. ^ G. Herring, America's Longest War, 1996, pp116.
  11. ^ Moyar, Triumph Forsaken, 286.
  12. ^ Moyar, Triumph Forsaken, 286; Political Bureau Resolution, November 1963, TTU, Pike Collection, Unit 6, box 1.
  13. ^ Moyar, Triumph Forsaken, 279-287, 293-297, 301-304, 309, 315-319, 326-329, 333-340, 343-348, 350-352, 363-366, 372-375, 392-394, 396-406. See also Karnow, Vietnam, rev. ed. (New York, Penguin Books, 1991), 340-341, 350-358, 363, 394-402, 418, 422-425, 427, 437-436, 441.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Preceded by
none		 President of the Republic of Vietnam
1955–1963		 Succeeded by
Dương Văn Minh
Preceded by
Prince Bửu Lộc		 Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam
1954-1955		 Succeeded by
Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ


Persondata
NAME Ngo Dinh Diem
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ngô Đình Diệm Jean Baptiste (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION First President of the Republic of Vietnam
DATE OF BIRTH 3 January 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Hue, Vietnam
DATE OF DEATH 2 November 1963
PLACE OF DEATH Saigon, Vietnam
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