Ngo Dinh Diem

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Ngo Dinh Diem

As the Cold War escalated in the United States, Eisenhower and Washington would make their anti-communist policies felt by stopping Ho Chi Minh from realizing his goal of reunification of Vietnam. The Americans would erect a new non-communist government in Nam, or south, and put at its helm, Ngo Dinh Diem.

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 generals overthrew and assassinated Ngo later that year.

This basically sums up how the majority of people thought of Ngo Dinh Diem. He was a narrow leader only worried about gaining and keeping loyalty. Diem believed that he had a mandate of God to rule over Vietnam, and he did not have to earn the public's trust and admiration. Rather, these two items should be automatically bestowed. Diem thought the people owe him that much. The factors that led to his increased unpopularity and later demise are well documented in nearly all works on the Vietnam War. But is there more to the story? How did the people of Saigon, the ones that were most loyal, view their leader?

Khiem Khac Pham, a native citizen of Vietnam believed Ngo Dinh Diem was a great man. Khiem believes that Diem loved his country, and would do anything to fight the communists threatening to take it over. Khiem was born in a village 50 miles outside of Hanoi in 1944. His father saw Ho Chi Minh recite the American Declaration of Indep...

... middle of paper ...

...- thing possible to stop the communists. He was not a diabolical ruler but one with few options. Furthermore, Khiem argues that Diem truly understood the Viet Cong and what they were capable of (The US never understood the communists, and many argue this is the reason why they lost), and if Diem was not overthown, the outcome of the war may have been totally different.

Bibliography:

Gettleman, Marvin E. (ed ), Vietnam: History, Documents, and Opinions.

Fawcett, 1965

2. Osbourne, Milton. Strategic Hamlets in South Vietnam. Data Paper 55. Ithaca, NY

CornellUniversity Southeast Asia Program, April 1965

3. Pham Khac Khiem. Telephone interview. 01Aug. 2000.

Young, Marylin. The Vietnam Wars 1945-1990. Harper Collins Publishers, 1991

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