Difference between revisions of "Ngo Dinh Diem"

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{{Vietnamese name|Ngô|Ngo|Diệm}}
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Ngo Dinh Diem was the first president of South Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem was unpopular, and the United States feared that an election in the South might choose North Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh’s communists. So they postponed the elections. But in 1963, South Vietnamese generals who enjoyed United States support took over South Vietnam and assassinated Ngo Dinh Diem.
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{{Infobox President
 
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|name=Ngo Dinh Diem<br/>''First President of the Republic of Vietnam''
 
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|image=Ngo Dinh Diem - Thumbnail - ARC 542189.gif
 
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|imagesize= 125px
 
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|term_start=[[26 October]] [[1955]]
 
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|term_end=[[2 November]] [[1963]]
 
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|predecessor=None
 
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|successor=[[Duong Van Minh]]
 
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|spouse=none
 
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|birth_date=[[3 January]] [[1901]]
 
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|birth_place=[[Huế]]
 
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|death_date=[[2 November]] [[1963]]
 
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|death_place=[[Saigon]]
 
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|religion= [[Roman Catholic]]}}
 
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<!-- Until someone can fill in the third argument for the template, it shouldn't be on here. -->
 
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<!-- {{Vietnamese name|Ngô|Diệm}} -->
 
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{{Audio|NgoDinhDiem.ogg| '''Ngô Đình Diệm Jean Baptiste'''}} ''«ngoh dihn zih-ehm»'' ([[January 3]], [[1901]] &ndash; [[November 2]], [[1963]]) was the first President of [[South Vietnam]] (1955&ndash;1963).
 
  
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==Family and childhood==
 
  
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Ngô Đình Diệm was born in [[Hue (city)|Huế]], the original capital of the [[Nguyen Dynasty|Nguyễn Dynasty]] of [[Vietnam]]. His Ngô family was [[Roman Catholic]] and [[aristocratic]],<ref>[http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/bios/html/diem.html Ngo Dinh Diem] - University of Wisconsin</ref> dating back to the seventeenth Century, when Portuguese missionaries had converted his family .<ref>Anthony Trawick Bouscaren, 'The Last of the Mandarins: Diem of Vietnam,' Duquesene University Press, Pittsburgh, Penna, 1965. P13.</ref> Diem's family originated from the village of Phu Cam in central Vietnam. His family had served as mandarins in the imperial court in Hue, and his father [[Ngo Dinh Kha]] was a counsellor to Emperor [[Thanh Thai]] during the French colonisation. When the French deposed the emperor on the pretext of insanity, Kha retired in protest and became a farmer. The third of six sons, Diem was christened Jean-Baptiste in the cathedral in Hue. He laboured in the family’s rice fields while studying at a French Catholic school, and later entered a private school started by his father. He was offered a scholarship to [[France]] but declined to contemplate becoming a priest. He dropped the idea, believing it to be too rigorous. Diem studied law and administration at a French school that trained Vietnamese bureaucrats.<ref name="early k">Karnow (1997) p.229-233</ref>
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== Early career ==
 
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Diem followed in the footsteps of his eldest brother [[Ngo Dinh Khoi]], joining the civil service. Diem rose to be a provincial governor at the age of 25, and first encountered communists distributing propaganda while riding horseback through the region. Diem involved himself in anti-communist activities from the first, time printing his own pamphlets. In 1933, with the return of [[Bao Dai]] to ascend the throne, Diem was appointed by the French to be his interior minister. After calling for the French to introduce a Vietnamese legislature, he resigned after three months when this was rejected. He was stripped of his decorations and titles and threatened with arrest.<ref name="early k"/>
 
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For the next decade, Diem lived as a private citizen with his family, although he was kept under surveillance. His attempts to persuade the invading [[Japan]]ese forces to declare independence for Vietnam in 1942 were ignored, and in 1945, the Japanese overlooked him for an administration under Bao Dai which they organised upon leaving the country. In September 1945 when [[Ho Chi Minh]] proclaimed the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] and his [[Vietminh]] began fighting the French, Diem attempted to travel to Hue to dissuade Bao Dai from joining Ho, but was arrested by the Vietminh along the way and exiled to a highland village near the border. He might have died of malaria had the local tribesmen not nursed him back to health. Six months later, he was taken to meet Ho in Hanoi, but refused to join the Vietminh, assailing Ho for the death of his brother Khoi. Diem continued to gather support for himself in the late 1940s, without success. The Vietminh sentenced him to death in absentia, and tried to kill him while he was travelling to visit his elder brother [[Ngo Dinh Thuc]] in the [[Mekong Delta]], where he was the bishop of the Vinh Long diocese. Diem then left Vietnam in 1950.<ref name="early k"/>
 
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He spent the years from 1951-53 in the Maryknoll Junior Seminary in Lakewood, N.J.. He spent this period lobbying the U.S. government to not support the French, noting that the French were "fighting the people"<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866120-5,00.html The Beleaguered Man] TIME - Apr. 04, 1955</ref>. 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.<ref>Moyar (2006) p. 33.</ref>
 
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== Rise to power ==
 
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{{main|1955 South Vietnamese election}}
 
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Diệm's appointment came after the French had been defeated at the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] and were ready to withdraw from [[Indochina]]. At the start of 1955, [[French Indochina]] was dissolved, leaving Diem in temporary control of the south.<ref>Maclear (1981) pp.65-68</ref> A referendum was scheduled for October 23, 1955 to determine the future direction of the south. It was contested by [[Bao Dai]], the Emperor, advocating the restoration of the monarchy, while Diem ran on a republican platform. The elections were held, with Diem's brother and confidant [[Ngo Dinh Nhu]], the leader of the family's [[Can Lao]] Party, which supplied Diem's electoral base, organising and supervising the elections.<ref name="karnow55"/><ref>Langguth (2000) p.99</ref> Campaigning for Bao Dai was prohibited, and the result was rigged, with Bao Dai supporters attacked by Nhu's workers. Diem recorded 98.2% of the vote, including 605,025 votes in Saigon, where only 450 thousand voters were registered. Diem's tally also exceeded the registration numbers in other districts.<ref name="jacobs">Jacobs (2006) p95</ref><ref name="karnow55">Karnow (1997) p239</ref> Three days later, Diem proclaimed the formation of the [[Republic of Vietnam]], naming himself President.
 
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Under the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|1954 Geneva Accords]], Vietnam was to undergo elections in 1956 to reunify the country. Diem, noting that South Vietnam was not a party to the convention, canceled these. Criticising the Communists he gave the justification for cancelling the elections as being "meaningful only on the condition that they are absolutely free", despite his numerically impossible tally in the 1955 poll.<ref>Gettleman (1966) p.203</ref>
 
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After coming under pressure from within the country and the [[United States]], Diem agreed to hold elections in August 1959 to form a national legislature. Newspapers were not allowed to publish names of independent candidates or their policies, and political meetings exceeding five people were prohibited. Candidates were disqualified for reasons such as their posters having been vandalised. In the rural areas, candidates who ran were threatened with being charged with conspiracy with the Vietcong, which carried the death penalty. [[Phan Dan Quang]], the government's most prominent critic was allowed to run. Despite sending 8000 [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|ARVN]] plainclothes troops into his district to vote, Dan still won with a 6-1 ratio. The bussing of soldiers occurred across the country, and when the new assembly convened, Dan was arrested.<ref>Langguth p.108</ref><ref>Jacobs (2006) p.112-115</ref>
 
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==Rule==
 
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Diệm's rule was [[authoritarian]] and [[nepotism|nepotistic]].  His most trusted official was his brother, [[Ngo Dinh Nhu|Ngô Đình Nhu]], leader of the primary pro-Diệm political party. [[Ngo Dinh Can|Ngô Đình Cẩn]], his younger brother, was put in charge of the former Imperial City of Huế. Although neither Cẩn or Nhu held any official role in the government, they ruled their regions of South Vietnam, commanding private armies and secret police. Another brother, [[Ngo Dinh Luyen|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. His elder brother, [[Ngo Dinh Thuc Pierre Martin|Ngô Đình Thục]], was the [[archbishop]] of Huế. Despite this, Thuc lived in the Presidential Palace, along with Nhu, Nhu's wife and Diem. Diem was [[Nationalism|nationalistic]], devout Catholic, [[anti-Communist]], and preferred the philosophies of [[personalism]] and [[Confucianism]].<ref>Karnow (1997) p. 326; Moyar (2006) p. 36.</ref>
 
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Diệm's rule was also pervaded by family corruption. Can was widely believed to be involved in illegal smuggling of [[rice]] to [[North Vietnam]] on the black market and [[opium]] throughout [[Asia]] via [[Laos]], as well as monopolising the [[cinnamon]] trade, amassing a fortune stored in foreign banks.<ref>Buttinger pp. 954-955</ref><ref>Langguth pp. 258</ref> With Nhu, Can competed for US contracts and rice trade.<ref>Karnow p.246</ref> Thuc, the most powerful religious leader in the country, was allowed to solicit "voluntary contributions to the Church" from Saigon businessmen, which was likened to a "tax notices".<ref> Jacobs (2006) p.89</ref>
 
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[[Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu|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. [[Brothel]]s and [[opium]] dens were closed, [[divorce]] and [[abortion]] made illegal, and adultery laws were strengthened. Diệm also won a street war with the private army of the [[Binh Xuyen]] organised crime syndicate of the Cholon brothels and gambling houses who had enjoyed special favors under the French and Bảo Đại. he further dismantled the private armies of the [[Cao Dai]] and [[Hoa Hao]] religious sects, which controlled parts of the [[Mekong Delta]]. Diệm was also passionately anti-Communist. Tortures and killings of "communist suspects"  were committed on a daily basis. The death toll was put at around 50,000 and 75,000 imprisonments, and extended beyond communists to anti-communist dissidents and anti-corruption whistleblowers.<ref>Maclear (1981) p.70-90</ref>
 
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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 [[20 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, together with local peasants. 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.
 
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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 [[National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam|NLF]] from the villages, their source of recruiting soldiers, supplies and information.
 
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== Attempted coups ==
 
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{{main|1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt|1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bombing}}
 
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Diem was the subject of two failed coups. The first occurred in 1960, and the second occurred in 1962 after two air force officers revolted and bombed his palace.
 
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== Land policy ==
 
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During the 1946-54 war against the French colonial forces, the [[Vietminh]], having gained control of parts of southern Vietnam, embarked on land reform. During the period of war, rent collection, which hovered at around 50-70% was impossible in some parts of the country or the Vietminh had compelled landlords to seek safety in the city, and confiscated their lands, distributing it to the peasants. When Diem came to powere, he reversed these, with upper class landowners being his ideological support base. In the [[Mekong Delta]], 0.025% of landowners owned 40% of the land. Most of the land was owned by absentee landlords and worked by tenant farmers. This generated resentment among the populace, as land ownership was highly valued in the society. Diem declared that landlords could collect no more than 25%, but this was not enforced and in some cases the rent levels were higher than those under French colonisation. Under US pressure, in 1956, he limited individual land holdings to 115 hectares, and reimbursed the landlords for the excess, which he sold to peasants. Many landlords evaded the redistribution by transferring the property to the name of family members.  In addition, the ceiling limit was more than 30 times that allowed in [[South Korea]] and [[Taiwan]], and the 370,000 acres of Catholic Church land was exempted. As a result, only 13% of the South Vietnam's land was redistributed, and by the end of his regime, only 10% of the tenants had received any land, at a high cost. It generated anger, and in turn sympathy to the Vietminh who had given them free land. At the end of his rule, 10% of the poulation owned 55% of the land.<ref>Jacobs (2006) pp93-96</ref>
 
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Believing that the central highlands may be of strategic importance to the [[Vietcong]] or in a potential invasion by [[North Vietnam]], Diem decided to construct a [[Maginot Line]] of settlements. The area, being inhabited by [[Montagnard]] indigenous people, had been largely allowed local autonomy in previous times, and distrusted ethnic Vietnamese. Diem initiated a program of internal migration where 210,000 Vietnamese, mainly Catholics, were moved to Montagnard land in fortified settlements.<ref> Jacobs (2006) p.90-92</ref> When the Montagnards protested, Diem's forces confiscated their spears and bows, which they used to hunt for their daily sustenance.<ref>Langguth (2000) p.184-18592</ref> Since then, and to the present day, Vietnam has been faced with a Montagnard insurgent separatist movement.
 
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== Government policy towards Buddhists ==
 
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In a country where estimates of the religious composition overwhelming estimated the Buddhist majority to be between 70 and 90%,<ref>[http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/vietnam_war/3033916.html The 1966 Buddhist Crisis in South Vietnam] HistoryNet</ref><ref>Gettleman (1966) pp. 275-276, 366.</ref><ref>Moyar (2006) p. 215-216.</ref><ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874816-2,00.html</ref><ref>Tucker pp. 49,291,293</ref><ref>Maclear (1981) p.63</ref><ref>http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/doc125.htm</ref> Diem's policies generated claims of a religious bias. As a member of the [[Roman Catholicism in Vietnam|Catholic Vietnamese]] minority, he is widely regarded by historians as having pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists. Specifically, the government was regarded as being biased towards Catholics in public servant and military promotions, as well as allocation of land, business favours and tax concessions.<ref>Tucker (2000) p. 291.</ref> Diem also once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that he was a Buddhist "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted." Many officers in the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]] converted to Catholicism in the belief that their military prospects depended on it.<ref>Gettleman (1966) pp. 280-282.</ref> The Catholic church was the largest landowner in the country, and the "private" status that was imposed on Buddhism by the French, which required official permission to conduct public Buddhist activities, were not repealed by Diem.<ref>Karnow (1997) p. 294.</ref> The land owned by the Catholic church was exempt from land reform.<ref>Buttinger p. 933.</ref> Catholics were also de facto exempt from the [[corvee]] labor that the government obliged all citizens to perform and distributed US aid disproportionately to Catholic majority villages. Under Diem, the Catholic church enjoyed special exemptions in property acquisition, and in 1959, Diem dedicated his country to the [[Virgin Mary]].<ref>Jacobs p. 91</ref>
 
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== Buddhist crisis ==
 
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The regime's relations with the U.S. worsened during [[1963]], as well as heightening discontent among South Vietnam's Buddhist majority.
 
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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]] when the government cited a regulation prohibiting the display of non-government flags. A few days, Catholics were allowed to fly religious flags at another celebration where the regulation was not enforced. This led to a protest lead by Thich Tri Quang against the  government, which was suppressed by Diệm's forces, killing nine unarmed civilians. Diem and his supporters blamed the [[Vietcong]] for the deaths and blamed the protestors for the violence.<ref>Karnow (1997) p. 295; Moyar (2006) pp. 212-213.</ref> Although the province chief expressed sorrow for the killings and offered to compensate the victims' families, they resolutely denied that government forces were responsible for the killings and blamed the Vietcong.<ref>Gettleman (1966) pp. 64-283.</ref>
 
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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.<ref>Gettleman (1966) pp. 264-283.</ref> A further number of monks publicly [[self-immolation|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 used his conventional argument, equating dissenters to communists.
 
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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. The Pagodas were vandalised, monks beaten, the cremated remains of Thích Quảng Đức, which included a heart which did not disintegrate, were confiscated.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940704-1,00.html</ref> Simultaneous raids were carried out across the country, with the [[Tu Dam Pagoda]] in Hue being looted, the statue of [[Gautama Buddha]] demolished and a body of a deceased monk confiscated.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940704-2,00.html</ref> When the populace came to the defence of the monks, the resulting clashes saw 30 civilians killed and 200 wounded.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940704-2,00.html</ref> In all 1400 monks were arrested, and some thirty were injured across the country. The US indicated their disapproval of Diem's administration when their ambassador [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.|Henry Cabot Lodge]] visited the Pagoda in the aftermath.<ref>Gettleman (1966) pp. 278-283.</ref> No further mass Buddhist protests occurred during the remainder of his rule.<ref>Moyar (2006) pp. 212-216, 231-234.</ref>
 
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During this time, Madame Nhu, who was a defacto first lady due to Diem's bachelor life, inflamed the situation by mockingly applauding the suicides, referring to them as "barbeques" while Nhu stated "if the Buddhists want to have another barbeque, I will be glad to supply the gasoline".<ref>Tucker (2000) pp. 292-293.</ref>
 
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== Coup and Assassination ==
 
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On orders from [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[John F. Kennedy]], [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.|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 [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|ARVN]] Generals led by General [[Duong Van Minh|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]].
 
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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.<ref>[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/pent6.htm The Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2 Ch. 4] "The Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, May-November, 1963," pp. 201-276,</ref> Diem was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery next to the house of the US ambassador, Lodge.<ref>G. Herring, ''America's Longest War'', 1996, pp116.</ref>
 
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==References==
 
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{{reflist|2}}
 
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==Further reading==
 
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*{{cite book| title=Vietnam:A Dragon Embattled| first=Joseph |last=Buttinger |year=1967 |publisher=[[Praeger publishers]]}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=Frances |last=Fitzgerald |authorlink=Frances Fitzgerald| year=1972 |title=Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and Americans in Vietnam |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |location=[[Boston]] |isbn= 0-316-15919-0}}
 
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*{{cite book|title=Vietnam:History, documents and opinions on a major world crisis| first= Marvin E. |last=Gettleman |year=1966 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]]}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=David | last=Halberstam |authorlink=David Halberstam| year=1969 |title=The Best and the Brightest |isbn=0-449-90870-4}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=Hilaire |last=du Berrier |year=1965 |title=Background to Betrayal}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=Seth |last=Jacobs| year=2006| title=Cold War Mandarin : Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950-1963| publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]]| isbn=0742544478}}
 
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*{{cite book| title=Vietnam:A history| first=Stanley |last=Karnow |authorlink=Stanley Karnow| year=1997 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] | isbn=0-670-84218-4}}
 
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*{{cite book| title=Our Vietnam| first=A. J. |last=Langguth |year=2000 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] | pages =99| isbn=0-684-81202-9}}
 
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* {{cite book| last=Le Xuan Nhuan| year=1996 |url=http://LeXuanNhuan.tripod.com/MaiThem.html |title=Về Vùng Chiến-Tuyến |location=[[Westminster]]| publisher=Van Nghe| isbn=1-886566-15-1}}
 
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* {{cite book| last=Le Xuan Nhuan| year=2002 |url=http://LeXuanNhuan.tripod.com/DaoDuc.html| title=Cảnh-Sát-Hóa: Quốc-Sách Yểu-Tử của Việt-Nam Cộng-Hòa |isbn=0-9665293-8-3}}
 
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*{{cite book| title=Vietnam:The ten thousand day war| first=Michael |last=Maclear |year=1981 |publisher=[[Methuen]] | pages =65-68| isbn=0-423-00580-4}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=Robert |last=Mann| year=2001| title=A Grand Delusion: America's Descent into Vietnam| location=[[New York]] |publisher=[[Perseus]]| isbn=0-465-04370-4}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=Mark |last=Moyar | year=2006 |title= Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965| publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]| isbn=0-521-86911-0}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=Richard |last=Reeves |year=1994 | title=President Kennedy: Profile of Power| location=New York |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=0-671-89289-4}}
 
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* {{cite book| first=Neil |last=Sheehan| year=1989 |title=[[A Bright Shining Lie]] |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |isbn=978-0679724148}}
 
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*{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War| first= Spencer C. |last=Tucker |year=2000 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]| pages =288-289| isbn=1-57607-040-0}}
 

Revision as of 05:44, May 2, 2007

Ngo Dinh Diem was the first president of South Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem was unpopular, and the United States feared that an election in the South might choose North Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh’s communists. So they postponed the elections. But in 1963, South Vietnamese generals who enjoyed United States support took over South Vietnam and assassinated Ngo Dinh Diem.


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