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{{short description|Founder and President of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=
{{family name hatnote|Ngô|Diệm|Ngo|lang=Vietnamese}}
{{Infobox officeholder
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| successor3 = ''Position abolished''
| office4 = 6th [[Leaders of South Vietnam#Prime Ministers|Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam]]
| term_start4 =
| term_end4 = 26 October 1955
| 1blankname4 = Head of State
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| successor5 = [[Thái Văn Toản]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1901|1|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Phong Thủy|Đại Phong Lộc]], [[Quảng Bình province|Quảng Bình]], [[Annam (French protectorate)|Annam]], [[French Indochina]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 November 2013
| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|11|2|1901|1|3|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Saigon]], [[South Vietnam]]
| death_cause = [[Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem|
| resting_place = [[Mạc Đĩnh Chi Cemetery]] (until 1983)<br>{{ill|v=ib|Lái Thiêu Cemetery|vi|Nghĩa trang Lái Thiêu}}
| party = [[Cần Lao]]
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| signature = NgoDinhDiemSignature.svg
}}
{{Ngô Đình Diệm sidebar}}▼
'''Ngô Đình Diệm''' ({{IPAc-en|d|j|ɛ|m}} {{respell|dyem}},<ref>[[British Pathé]] – [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rj8-qxROFc "New York Hails Vietnam's President Diem (1957)"]<!--at 0:07--></ref> {{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|i:|ə|m}} {{respell|YEE|əm}} or {{IPAc-en|z|i:|m}} {{respell|zeem}}; {{IPA-vi|ŋō ɗìn jîəmˀ|lang|NgoDinhDiem.ogg}}; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the [[State of Vietnam]] (1954–1955) and later the first [[president of South Vietnam]] ([[South Vietnam|Republic of Vietnam]]) from 1955 until his [[arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem|capture and assassination]] during the [[CIA]]-backed [[1963 South Vietnamese coup]].
He was born into a prominent [[Catholic Church in Vietnam|Catholic]] family with his father, [[Ngô Đình Khả]], being a high-ranking [[Mandarin (bureaucrat)|mandarin]] for Emperor [[Thành Thái]] during the [[French Vietnam|French colonial era]]. Diệm was educated at French-speaking schools and considered following his brother [[Ngô Đình Thục]] into the priesthood, but eventually chose to pursue a career in the [[Civil service|civil-service]]. He progressed rapidly in the court of Emperor [[Bảo Đại]], becoming governor of [[Bình Thuận Province]] in 1929 and interior minister in 1933. However, he resigned from the latter position after three months and publicly denounced the emperor as a tool of [[France]]. Diệm came to support [[Vietnamese nationalism]], promoting both [[anti-communism]], in opposition to [[Hồ Chí Minh]], and [[decolonization]], in opposition to Bảo Đại. He established the [[Can Lao Party|Cần Lao Party]] to support his political doctrine of [[Person Dignity Theory]], which was heavily influenced by the teachings of [[Personalism]], mainly from French philosopher [[Emmanuel Mounier]]
After several years in exile in [[Japan]], the [[United States]], and [[Europe]], Diệm returned home in July 1954 and was appointed prime minister by Bảo Đại. The [[1954 Geneva Conference]] took place soon after he took office, formally partitioning Vietnam along the 17th parallel. Diệm, with the aid of his younger brother [[Ngô Đình Nhu]], soon consolidated power in South Vietnam. After the [[1955 State of Vietnam referendum]], he proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Vietnam, with himself as president. His government was supported by other anti-communist countries, most notably the United States. Diệm pursued a series of nation-building projects, promoting industrial and [[rural development]]. From 1957 onward, as part of the [[Vietnam War]], he faced a communist insurgency backed by [[North Vietnam]], eventually formally organized under the banner of the [[Viet Cong]]. He was subject to several assassination and coup attempts, and in 1962 established the [[Strategic Hamlet Program]] as the cornerstone of his counterinsurgency effort.
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==Family and early life==
[[File:Family of Mr. Ngô Đình Khả.jpg|alt=4 year old Diem and his father in 1905 or 1906
Ngô Đình Diệm was born in 1901 in [[Quảng Bình province]], in [[central Vietnam]]. His family originated in Phú Cam, a Catholic village adjacent to [[Huế]]. His ancestors had been among Vietnam's earliest Catholic converts in the 17th century.<ref>Fall, Bernard B. (1963). ''The Two Viet-Nams.'' Praeger Publishers, p. 235.</ref> Diệm was given a saint's name at birth, ''Gioan Baotixita'' (a Vietnamized form of [[John the Baptist]]), following the custom of the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>Miller, p. 19.</ref> The Ngô-Đình family suffered under the anti-Catholic persecutions of Emperors [[Minh Mạng]] and [[Tự Đức]]. In 1880, while Diệm's father, [[Ngô Đình Khả]] (1850–1925), was studying in [[British Malaya]], an anti-Catholic riot led by Buddhist monks almost wiped out the Ngô-Đình clan. Over 100 of the Ngô clan were "burned alive in a church including Khả's father, brothers, and sisters."<ref>Jacobs, Seth (2006) ''Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963''. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, p. 18.</ref>
Ngô Đình Khả was educated in a Catholic school in British Malaya, where he learned English and studied the European-style curriculum.<ref>Miller, p. 23.</ref> He was a devout Catholic and scrapped plans to become a Roman Catholic [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priest]] in the late
Khả decided to abandon his studies for the priesthood and instead married. After his first wife died childless, Khả remarried and, in a period of twenty-three years, had twelve children with his second wife, Phạm Thị Thân, nine of whom survived infancy – six sons and three daughters.<ref>Jarvis, p. 20.</ref> These were [[Ngô Đình Khôi]], Ngô Đình Thị Giao, [[Ngô Đình Thục]], Ngô Đình Diệm, Ngô Đình Thị Hiệp, Ngô Đình Thị Hoàng, [[Ngô Đình Nhu]], [[Ngô Đình Cẩn]] and [[Ngô Đình Luyện]]. As a devout Roman Catholic, Khả took his entire family to daily morning [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] and encouraged his sons to study for the priesthood.<ref name=":0">Jacobs, p. 19.</ref> Having learned both Latin and classical Chinese, Khả strove to make sure his children were well educated in both Christian scriptures and [[Confucian classics]].<ref>Miller, p. 22.</ref> During his childhood, Diệm laboured in the family's rice fields while studying at a French Catholic primary school (Pellerin School) in Huế, and later entered a private school started by his father, where he studied French, Latin, and classical Chinese. At the age of fifteen he briefly followed his elder brother, Ngô Đình Thục, who would become Vietnam's highest-ranking Catholic bishop, into seminary.<ref>Jarvis, p. 21.</ref> Diệm swore himself to [[celibacy]] to prove his devotion to his faith, but found monastic life too rigorous and decided not to pursue a clerical career.<ref name="Miller, p.24">Miller, p. 24.</ref> According to [[Mark Moyar]], Diệm's personality was too independent to adhere to the disciplines of the Church, while Jarvis recalls Ngô Đình Thục's ironic observation that the Church was "too worldly" for Diệm.<ref>Jarvis, p. 37.</ref> Diệm also inherited his father's antagonism toward the French colonialists who occupied his country.<ref>Moyar, p. 11</ref>
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After graduating at the top of his class in 1921, Diệm followed in the footsteps of his eldest brother,{{Tone inline|date=August 2023}} Ngô Đình Khôi, joining the civil service in [[Thừa Thiên Huế province|Thừa Thiên]] as a junior official. Starting from the lowest rank of mandarin, Diệm steadily rose over the next decade. He first served at the royal library in Huế, and within one year was the district chief in both Thừa Thiên and nearby [[Quảng Trị province]],<ref name="early k" /> presiding over seventy villages. Diệm was promoted to be a provincial chief ([[Tuần phủ]]) in Ninh Thuận at the age of 28, overseeing 300 villages.<ref>Moyar, p. 12.</ref>
[[File:Baodai2.jpg|alt=emperor Bảo Đại|left|thumb|194x194px|Portrait of [[Empire of Vietnam|emperor]] [[Bảo Đại]]]]
During his career as a mandarin, Diệm was known for his industriousness and incorruptibility, and as a Catholic leader and nationalist. Catholic nationalism in Vietnam during the 1920s and 1930s facilitated Diệm's ascent in his bureaucratic career.<ref name="early k" />
During his career as a mandarin, Diệm was known for his workaholism and incorruptibility, and as a Catholic leader and nationalist. Catholic nationalism in Vietnam during the 1920's and 1930's facilitated Diệm's ascent in his bureaucratic career.<ref name="early k" /> Diệm's rise was also facilitated through Ngô Đình Khôi's marriage to the daughter of [[Nguyễn Hữu Bài]], who was the Catholic head of the Council of Ministers at the Huế court. Bài also supported the indigenization of the Vietnamese Church and giving more administrative powers to the monarchy.<ref>Miller, p. 25.</ref> Bài was highly regarded among the French administration. Diệm's religious and family ties impressed Bài and he became Diệm's patron.<ref name=":0" /> The French were impressed by his work ethic but were irritated by Diệm's frequent calls to grant more autonomy to Vietnam. Diệm contemplated resigning but encouragement from the populace convinced him to persist. In 1925, he first encountered communists distributing propaganda while riding horseback through the region near Quảng Trị. Revolted by calls for violent socialist revolution contained in the propaganda leaflets, Diệm involved himself in anti-communist activities for the first time, spreading his own anti-communist pamphlets.<ref name=":2">Jacobs, p. 20.</ref>▼
▲
In 1929, he was promoted to the governorship of [[Bình Thuận Province]] and was known for his work ethic. In 1930 and 1931, he helped the French suppress the first peasant revolts organized by the communists.<ref name=":2" /> According to historian [[Bernard B. Fall]] Diệm put the revolts down as he believed they would not lead to the removal of the French but might threaten the leadership of the mandarins.<ref name="early k" /> In 1933, with the ascension of [[Bảo Đại]] to the throne, Diệm accepted Bảo Đại's invitation to be his interior minister following lobbying by Nguyễn Hữu Bài. Soon after his appointment, Diệm headed a commission to advise on potential administration reforms. After calling for the French administration to introduce a Vietnamese legislature and many other political reforms, he resigned after three months in office when his proposals were rejected.<ref>{{cite book|title= The end of the Vietnamese monarchy|last= Lockhart|first= Bruce McFarland|publisher= Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale Center for International and Area Studies.|year= 1993|pages= 68–86|isbn=093869250X}}</ref> Diệm denounced Emperor Bảo Đại as "nothing but an instrument in the hands of the French administration," and renounced his decorations and titles from Bảo Đại. The French administration then threatened him with arrest and exile.<ref name="early k" />▼
▲In 1929, he was promoted to the governorship of [[Bình Thuận Province]] and was known for his work ethic. In 1930 and 1931, he helped the French suppress the first peasant revolts organized by the communists.<ref name=":2" /> According to historian [[Bernard B. Fall]] Diệm put the revolts down as he believed they would not lead to the removal of the French but might threaten the leadership of the mandarins.<ref name="early k" /> In 1933, with the ascension of [[Bảo Đại]] to the throne, Diệm accepted Bảo Đại's invitation to be his interior minister following lobbying by Nguyễn Hữu Bài. Soon after his appointment, Diệm headed a commission to advise on potential administration reforms. After calling for the French administration to introduce a Vietnamese legislature and many other political reforms, he resigned after three months in office when his proposals were rejected.<ref>{{cite book|title= The end of the Vietnamese monarchy|last= Lockhart|first= Bruce McFarland|publisher= Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale Center for International and Area Studies.|year= 1993|pages= 68–86|isbn=093869250X}}</ref> Diệm denounced Emperor Bảo Đại as "nothing but an instrument in the hands of the French administration
For the next decade, Diệm lived as a private citizen with his family in Huế, although he was kept under surveillance. He spent his time reading, meditating, attending church, gardening, hunting, and in amateur photography.<ref name="Moyar, p.13">Moyar, p. 13</ref> Diệm also conducted extensive nationalist activities during those 21 years, engaging in meetings and correspondence with various leading Vietnamese revolutionaries, such as his friend, [[Phan Bội Châu]], a Vietnamese anti-colonial activist, whom Diệm respected for his knowledge of Confucianism and argued that Confucianism's teachings could be applied to a modern Vietnam.<ref name="Moyar, p.13" /> With the start of the [[Second World War|World War II]] in the Pacific, seeing an opportunity for Vietnam to challenge French colonization, he attempted to persuade the Japanese forces to declare independence for Vietnam in 1942 but was ignored. Diệm also tried to establish relationships with Japanese diplomats, army officers, and intelligence operatives who supported Vietnam's independence.<ref name="Miller, p.30">Miller, p. 30.</ref> In 1943, Diệm's Japanese friends helped him to contact Prince [[Cường Để]], an anti-colonial activist, who was in exile in Japan.<ref>Trần, Mỹ Vân (2005). ''Vietnamese royal in Exile: Prince Cường Để (1882–1951)'', Routledge, pp. 32–67.</ref>
After contacting Cường Để, Diệm formed a secret political party, the [[Việt Nam Quang Phục Hội|Association for the Restoration of Great Vietnam]] (Việt Nam Đại Việt Phục Hưng Hội), which was dominated by his Catholic allies in Hue.<ref>Keith, Charles (2012). ''Catholic Vietnam: A Church from Empire to Nation''. University of California Press, p. 212.</ref> When its existence was discovered in the summer of 1944, the French declared Diệm to be subversive and ordered his arrest. He flew to Saigon under Japanese military protection, staying there until the end of WWII.<ref name="Miller, p.30" />
In 1945, after the [[Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina|coup against French colonial rule]], the Japanese offered Diệm the post of prime minister in the [[Empire of Vietnam]] under Bảo Đại, which they organized on leaving the country. He declined initially, but reconsidered his decision and attempted to reverse the refusal. However, Bảo Đại had already given the post to [[Trần Trọng Kim]]. In September 1945, after the Japanese withdrawal, [[Ho Chi Minh|Hồ Chí Minh]] proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and in the Northern half of Vietnam, his [[Viet Minh|Việt Minh]] began fighting the French administration. Diệm attempted to travel to Huế to dissuade Bảo Đại from joining Hồ but was arrested by the Việt Minh along the way and exiled to a highland village near the border. He might have died of malaria, dysentery, and influenza had the local tribesmen not nursed him back to health. Six months later, he was taken to meet Hồ, who recognized Diệm's virtues and, wanting to extend the support for his new government,<ref>Jacobs, p. 22.</ref> asked Diệm to be a minister of the interior. Diệm refused to join the Việt Minh, assailing Hồ for the murder of his brother Ngô Đình Khôi by Việt Minh cadres.<ref name="early k" /><ref name="mid j">Jacobs, pp. 20–25</ref>[[File:5 vị Thượng thư từ trái qua phải Hồ Đắc Khải, Phạm Quỳnh, Thái Văn Toản, Ngô Đình Diệm, Bùi Bằng Đoàn.jpg|alt=The five high-ranking mandarins (Thượng thư) of the Nguyễn dynasty during the reign of the Bảo Đại Emperor: Hồ Đắc Khải, Phạm Quỳnh, Thái Văn Toản, Ngô Đình Diệm, and Bùi Bằng Đoàn.|left|thumb|The five high-ranking [[Mandarin (bureaucrat)|mandarins]] (''Thượng thư'') of the Nguyễn dynasty during the reign of Emperor [[Bảo Đại]] (from left to right): [[Hồ Đắc Khải]], [[Phạm Quỳnh]], [[Thái Văn Toản]],
▲{{Ngô Đình Diệm sidebar}}
Diệm also secretly maintained contact with high-ranking leaders of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, attempting to convince them to leave Hồ Chí Minh's government and join him. Meanwhile, Diệm lobbied French colonial officials for “true independence” for Vietnam, but was disappointed when Bảo Đại agreed to French demands for an “associate state” within the French Union, which allowed France to maintain its diplomatic, economic, and military policies in Vietnam.<ref>Miller, p. 35.</ref> In the meantime, the French had created the [[State of Vietnam]] and Diệm refused Bảo Đại's offer to become the Prime Minister. On 16 June 1949, he
In 1950, the Việt Minh lost patience and sentenced him to death in absentia, and the French refused to protect him. Hồ Chí Minh's cadres tried to assassinate him while he was traveling to visit his elder brother Thục, bishop of the Vĩnh Long diocese in the Mekong Delta. Recognizing his political status, Diệm decided to leave Vietnam in 1950.<ref name="early k" /><ref name="mid j" />
According to Miller, during his early career, there were at least three ideologies that influenced Diệm's social and political views in the 1920s and 1930s. The first of these were Catholic nationalism, which Diệm inherited from his family's tradition, especially from his brother Bishop Ngô Đình Thục and Nguyễn Hữu Bài, who advised him to "return the seal" in 1933 to oppose French policies. The second was Diệm's understanding of Confucianism, especially through his friendship with Phan Bội Châu who argued that Confucianism's teachings could be applied to modern Vietnam. Lastly, instructed by Ngô Đình Nhu, Diệm began to examine [[Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party|Personalism]], which originated from [[Roman Catholicism in France|French Catholicism]]'s philosophy and then applied this doctrine as the main ideology of his regime.<ref>Miller, pp. 20–30.</ref>
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In the first period of his premiership, Diệm did not have much power in the government; he lacked control of the military and police forces, and the civil system's key positions were still held by French officials. He also could not control the Bank of Indochina. Besides, Diệm had to face massive obstacles: refugee issues; the French colonists wanting to remove Diệm to protect France's interest in South Vietnam; General [[Nguyễn Văn Hinh]], a Francophile, the leader of National Army was ready to oust Diệm; the leaders of the [[Hòa Hảo]] and [[Cao Đài]] sectarian armies wanted positions in Diệm's cabinet and complete administrative control over the areas in which they had large numbers of followers; and the major threat of [[Bình Xuyên]], an organized crime syndicate that controlled the National Police led by [[Lê Văn Viễn]], whose power was focused in Saigon.<ref>Moyar, p. 41.</ref> In summer 1954, the three organizations controlled approximately one-third of the territory and population of South Vietnam.<ref>Chapman, p. 74</ref> Besides his own political skills, Diệm had to trust in his relatives and the backing of his American supporters to overcome the obstacles and neutralize his opponents.<ref>Moyar, pp. 41–42.</ref>
Additionally, around one-third of the territory and population of South Vietnam was under the control of the Hòa Hảo and Cao Đài sectarian armies, who wanted positions in Diệm's cabinet and complete administrative control, and the Bình Xuyên, an organized crime syndicate that controlled the National Police led by Lê Văn Viễn, whose power was focused in Saigon.{{cn|date=June 2024}}
=== Partition ===
{{main|Operation Passage to Freedom}}
On 21 July 1954, the Geneva Accords temporarily partitioned Vietnam at the 17th parallel, pending elections in [[1954 Geneva Conference#Provisions|July 1956]] to reunify the country. The [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] controlled the north, while the French-backed State of Vietnam controlled the south with Diệm as the Prime Minister. Diệm criticized the French for abandoning [[North Vietnam]] to the Communists at Geneva, claimed that the terms did not represent the will of the Vietnamese people, and refused French suggestions to include more pro-French officials in the government.<ref>{{cite book|title= Cauldron of resistance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and 1950s southern Vietnam|last= Chapman|first= Jessica|publisher= Ithaca: Cornell University Press|year= 2013|page= 69}}</ref>
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In August 1954, Diệm also had to face the "Hinh crisis" when Hinh launched a series of public attacks on Diem, proclaiming that South Vietnam needed a “strong and popular” leader, as well as threatening to coup. However, at the end of 1954, Diệm successfully forced Hinh to resign from his post. Hinh had to flee to Paris and hand over his command of the national army to General [[Nguyễn Văn Vy]].<ref name=":4">Chapman, p. 84.</ref> But the National Army officers favoured Diệm's leadership over General Vy, which forced him to flee to Paris.<ref>Moyar, p. 52.</ref> Despite the failure of Hinh's alleged coup, the French continued to encourage Diệm's enemies in an attempt to destabilize him.<ref name=":4"/>
On 31 December 1954, Diệm established the [[National Bank of Vietnam]] and replaced the [[French Indochinese piastre|Indochinese banknotes]] with new [[South Vietnamese đồng|Vietnamese banknotes]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAyCDwAAQBAJ&dq=On+31+December+1954%2C+Di%E1%BB%87m+established+the+National+Bank+of+Vietnam+and+replaced+the+Indochinese+banknotes+with+new+Vietnamese+banknotes&pg=PA66|title=Beyond Political Skin: Colonial to National Economies in Indonesia and Vietnam (1910s–1960s)|page=66|publisher=[[Springer Nature]]|last=Phạm |first=Văn Thuỷ|date=2019|isbn=978-9811337116}}</ref> In early 1955, although American advisors encouraged Diệm to negotiate with the leaders of the political-religious forces who threatened to overthrow his position and to forge an anti-communist bloc, he was determined to attack his enemies to consolidate his power.<ref>Chapman, p. 75.</ref> In April 1955, Diệm's army forces took most of Bình Xuyên's posts in Saigon after a victory in the [[Battle of Saigon (1955)|Battle of Saigon]]. Within a few months, Diệm's troops wiped out the Bình Xuyên's remnants, leaving only a few small bands, who then joined forces with the communists.{{cn|date=June 2024}}
The defeat of Bình Xuyên increased the authority and prestige of Diệm's government and marked the end of French efforts to remove Diệm.<ref>Moyar, pp. 51–53.</ref> Most of the Cao Đài leaders chose to rally to Diệm's government.<ref>Moyar, p. 55.</ref> Diệm then dismantled the private armies of the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo religious sects. By the end of 1955, Diệm had almost taken control of South Vietnam, and his government was stronger than ever before.<ref>Moyar, p. 59.</ref> In April 1956, along with the capture of [[Ba Cụt]], the leader of the last Hòa Hảo rebels, Diệm almost subdued all of his non-communist enemies, and could focus on his Vietnamese communist opponents.<ref>Chapman, p. 128.</ref> According to Miller, Diệm's capacity in subduing his enemies and consolidating his power strengthened U.S. support of his government, although the U.S. government had planned to withdraw its backing from Diệm during his early difficult years of leadership.<ref>Miller, p. 6.</ref>
==Presidency (1955–1963)==
===Establishment of the Republic of Vietnam===
[[File:VA066641 Referendum Diem v. Bao Dai 1955.jpg|thumb|Results of the 1955 referendum posted on [[Ho Chi Minh City Hall|Saigon City Hall]]]]
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On 26 October 1955, Diệm proclaimed the formation of the Republic of Vietnam, with himself as its first President until 26 October 1956. The first Constitution provided articles to establish the republic and organize the election of its president.<ref name="Grant">{{cite journal|title=The Viet Nam Constitution of 1956|first=J. A. C.|last= Grant|date=June 1958| url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/viet-nam-constitution-of-1956/59720690F963611C93A9DA2E40CF4350=|journal=[[American Political Science Review]]|volume=52|issue=2|pages=437–462|access-date=28 October 2022|doi=10.2307/1952326|jstor=1952326 |s2cid=143647818 }}</ref> The 1954 Geneva Accords prescribed elections to reunify the country in 1956. Diệm refused to hold these elections, claiming that a free election was not possible in the North<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KaootJV5BR4C&dq=Unheralded+victory+Poland&pg=PA8 |title=Unheralded Victory: The Defeat of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, 1961–1973|first=Mark|last= William Woodruff|year=2005|publisher=[[Random House]]|isbn=978-0891418665}}</ref> and that since the previous State of Vietnam had not signed the accords, they were not bound by it<ref>{{cite book|url=https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/vietnamese-communists-relations-with-china-and-the-second-indochina-conflict-1956-1962/|title=Vietnamese Communists' Relations with China and the Second Indochina War (1956–62)|first=Ang|last= Cheng Guan|date=1997| publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]| page=11|isbn=0-7864-0404-3}}</ref> – despite having been part of the French Union,<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Bao Dai Experiment|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2753754|journal=[[Pacific Affairs]]|volume= 23 |issue=1|page=55|first=Ellen J. |last=Hammer| year=1950 |doi=10.2307/2753754 | jstor=2753754 |access-date=28 October 2022}}</ref> which itself was bound by the Accords.<ref>"Geneva Agreements 20–21 July 1954" (PDF). ''[[United Nations]]''. 1954.</ref> According to historian [[Keith Taylor (historian)|Keith Taylor]], Diệm's rejection of the Geneva Accords was a way of objecting to the French colonization of Vietnam, while at the same time expressing his opinion of Bảo Đại, and the establishment of the First Republic of Vietnam served to assert Vietnamese independence from France.<ref>Taylor, p. 6.</ref> At the same time, the first Constitution of the Republic of Vietnam was promulgated. According to the Constitution, the President was granted an inordinate amount of power, and his governing style became increasingly authoritarian over time.<ref>Miller, p. 137.</ref>
Diệm's rule was [[authoritarian]] and [[nepotism|nepotistic]]. His most trusted official was his brother Nhu, leader of the primary pro-Diệm party, the Cần Lao Party.
Diệm's rule was also pervaded by family corruption. Cẩn was widely believed to be involved in several illegal operations, namely the illegal smuggling of [[rice]] to North Vietnam on the black market, the opium trade via [[Laos]], in monopolizing the [[cinnamon]] trade, and However, Miller wrote that Diệm also clamped down on corruption{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}. South Vietnam was divided into colonial-era provinces, of which governors enjoyed sweeping powers and firmly controlled local administrations, creating a problem of corruption and cronyism. The governors were seen as petty tyrants, and Diệm launched corruption probes while also replacing many of the governors. However, starting in 1954, the political turmoil prevented him from taking further measures.<ref>Miller, p. 152.</ref> The MSUG, an American advisory body created to aid the Diệm's regime, recommended that Diệm centralize power by abolishing local administrations and reforming the existing ones into much larger "areas", with much less power and no financial autonomy. Diệm objected to abolishing the position of province chiefs, arguing that only local governments could address "the needs of local people" as he believed that requiring fiscal self-sufficiency from the local governments was key to creating the "ethos of mutual responsibility" – a key concept in Diệm's communitarian interpretation of democracy.<ref>Miller, p. 155.</ref>
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According to Miller, democracy, to Diệm, was rooted in his dual identity as Confucian and Catholic, and was associated with [[communitarianism]] and the doctrine of Personalism. He defined democracy as "a social ethos based on certain sense of moral duty", not in the U.S. sense of "political right" or political pluralism and in the context of an Asian country like Vietnam, Confucian and Catholic values were relevant to deal with contemporary problems in politics, governance, and social change. In this sense, Diệm was not a reactionary mandarin lacking an interest in democracy as he has been portrayed by some scholars. His way of thinking about democracy became a key factor of his approach to political and administrative reform.<ref>Miller, pp. 137–139.</ref> Diệm argued that post-colonial Vietnam must be a democratic country, but noted that Vietnamese democracy should develop out of its precolonial models, rather than European and American concepts, arguing that Vietnamese "institutions, customs and the principles underlying them are democratic facts."<ref>Miller, p. 136</ref> Researching the [[Nguyễn dynasty]], Diệm asserted that the moral norm of Nguyễn-era Vietnam was that it was founded "on the people", following the Confucian concept of [[Mandate of Heaven]]; people could and often did withdraw their support from unpopular monarchs, causing their downfall. Diệm considered it an "indigenous Vietnamese democratic tradition" and wished to make it the basis of democracy that would emerge in Vietnam.<ref name="Miller, p. 139">Miller, p. 139</ref>
Diệm's ideology of personalism was largely influenced by the Confucian notion that self-improvement meant cooperation with one's local community and society at large; he thought that there is a tension between individual's personal ambitions and community's ethos of mutual responsibility. Inspired by the writings of Catholic philosopher [[Emmanuel Mounier]], Diệm considered his ideology of personalism a "third way" of communitarianism, presenting an alternative to both [[individualism]] and [[Bureaucratic collectivism|collectivism]], insisting that democracy couldn't be realised "by drafting and promulgating documents and regulations", but that civil liberties granted by democratic regime to its citizens should serve "collective social improvement", serving each person's community rather than the individual itself.<ref>Miller, p. 138</ref>
In 1955, Diệm wrote that "democracy is primarily a state of mind, a way of living that respects the human person, both with regard to ourselves and with regard to others" and that "more than any other form of government, democracy demands that we all display wisdom and virtue in our dealings with each other." In 1956, Diem added that democracy had to foster a feeling of community and mutual responsibility, arguing that respect for democracy lays in "decency in social relations", thus defining Vietnamese democracy as inherently communitarian and not individualist.<ref name="Miller, p. 139" /> [[File:President Ngo dinh Diem taking the oath as First President of the Republic of Viet Nam on Constitution Promulgation Day (26 October 1956).jpg|alt=Diệm taking the oath as First President of the Republic of Vietnam|thumb|271x271px|Diệm taking the oath as First President of the [[South Vietnam|Republic of Vietnam]]]]
In summer and fall of 1955, Diệm's administration had to decide the fate of the former emperor Bảo Đại. Bảo Đại was initially supposed to remain the head of state until the National Assembly elections, but Diệm's cabinet decided to decide the monarch's fate through a referendum. Miller highlights that despite the popular belief that the referendum was put forward by [[Edward Lansdale]], it was Diệm who decided to organise the referendum as a way to burnish his democratic credentials and attempt to realise his democratic ideas. While the monarch was highly unpopular given his collaboration with the French colonial regime, the new government committed to further diminishing Đại's reputation with aggressive smear campaign and large pro-rallies. Additionally, the referendum itself was considered non-secret, given that the voters were given ballots with the photos of Diệm and Bảo Đại on it and were supposed to tear it in half and deposit the slice with their preferred candidate into the box – this made one's choice visible to everyone.<ref>Miller, p. 141</ref> Miller notes that the referendum reveals the eccentric nature of Diệm's understanding of democracy – in the sense of [[pluralist democracy|political pluralism]], the vote appeared inherently authoritarian; but to Diệm his margin appeared legitimate, as he described democracy as "state of mind" in which the people elect the morally superior leader. Thus Diệm was "adamant that the outcome was entirely consistent with his view of democracy as the citizenry's embrace of a common moral ethos".<ref>Miller, p. 142</ref>
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===Socio-economic policies===
During his presidency, Diệm imposed programs to reform Saigon society in accordance with Catholic and Confucian values. Brothels and opium dens were closed, divorce and abortion were made illegal, and adultery laws were strengthened.<ref>Kolko, Gabriel (1987). ''Vietnam: Anatomy of a War, 1940–1975''. Unwin Paperbacks, p. 89.</ref> Additionally, Diệm's government established many schools and universities, such as the [[National Technical Center (Vietnam)|National Technical Center]] at Phú Thọ in 1957, the [[Ho Chi Minh City University of Science|University of Saigon]] (1956), the [[Huế University|University of Hue]] (1957), and the [[Dalat University|University of Dalat]] (1957).<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 July 2016
===Rural development===
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Geoffrey C. Stewart's study provides a clearer picture of Diệm's domestic policies and a further understanding of his government's efforts in reaching and connecting with local communities in South Vietnam that shows "an indigenous initiative" of the government in building an independent and viable nation.<ref name="Civic Action">{{cite journal|title= Hearts, Minds and Công Dân Vụ: The Special Commissariat for Civic Action and Nation Building in Ngô Đình Diệm's Vietnam, 1955–1957|last= Stewart|first= Geoffrey C.|date= 2011|journal= Journal of Vietnamese Studies |volume=6 |issue=3 |page=44|doi= 10.1525/vs.2011.6.3.44}}</ref>
[[File:NARA 111-CCV-221-CC33513 Vietnamese farmers working in fields guarded by ROK Marines 1966.jpg|alt=Vietnamese farmers in Tuy Hoa, 1966.|thumb|[[Agriculture in Vietnam|Vietnamese farmers]] in [[Tuy Hòa|Tuy Hoa]], 1966.]]
'''Land Reform''' In South Vietnam, especially in [[Mekong Delta]], landholdings in rural areas were concentrated in small number of rich landlord families. Thus, it was urgent to implement land reform in South Vietnam. Diệm had two attempts to control the excesses of the land tenancy system by promulgating the Ordinance 2 on 28 January 1955 to reduce land rent between 15% and 25% of the average harvest and the Ordinance 7 on 5 February 1955 to protect the rights of tenants on new and abandoned land and enhancing cultivation. In October 1956, with the urge from [[Wolf Ladejinsky]], Diệm's personal adviser on agrarian reform, Diệm promulgated a more serious ordinance on the land reform, in which he proclaimed a "land to the tiller" (not to be confused with other [[Land reform in South Vietnam]] like [[Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]]'s later 'Land to the Tiller" program) program to put a relatively high 100 hectares limit on rice land and 15 hectares for ancestral worship.<ref>{{cite book|title= A Decade of Public Service: Nation Building during the Interregnum and Second Republic (1964–1975) in Voices from the second Republic of Vietnam (1967–1975), edited by [[Keith Taylor (historian)|Keith Taylor]]|last= Trần|first= Quang Minh|publisher= Southeast Asia Program Publications|year= 2014|isbn= 978-0877277958|location= New York|page= 54}}</ref>
However, this measure had no real effect because many landlords evaded the redistribution by transferring the property to the name of family members. Besides, during the 1946–54 war against the French Union forces, the Việt Minh had gained control of parts of southern Vietnam, initiated land reform, confiscated landlords' land and distributed it to the peasants.<ref>{{cite book|title= The Vietnam Wars|last= Young|first= Marilyn B.|publisher= HarperPerennial|year= 1991|isbn= 0-06-016553-7|location= New York|pages= 56–57}}</ref> Additionally, the ceiling limit was more than 30 times that allowed in Japan, [[South Korea]], and [[Taiwan]], and the 370,000 acres (1,500 km<sup>2</sup>) of the Catholic Church's landownings in Vietnam were exempted. The political, social, and economic influences of the land reform was minimal.<ref>Trần Quang Minh, p. 53.</ref> From 1957 to 1963, only 50 percent of expropriated land was redistributed, and only 100,000 out of approximately one million tenant farmers in South Vietnam benefited from the reform.<ref>Trần Quang Minh, p. 54.</ref> '''Resettlement''' According to Miller, Diệm, who described tenant farmers as a "real proletariat" and pursued the goal of "middle peasantization", was not a beholden to large landowners, instead of vigorously implementing Land Reform, Diệm had his own vision in Vietnamese rural development based on resettlement, which focused on redistribution of people (rather than land), could reduce overpopulation and lead to many benefits in socio-economic transformation as well as military affairs and security, especially anti-communist infiltration. Moreover, Diệm was ambitious to envision Resettlement as a tactic to practice the government's ideological goals. The differences between the US and Diệm over nation building in countryside shaped the clashes in their alliance.<ref>Miller, p. 160.</ref>
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'''Land Development program''' (''Khu dinh điền''): In early 1957, Diệm started a new program called the ''Land Development'' to relocate poor inhabitants, demobilized soldiers, and minority ethnic groups in central and southern Vietnam into abandoned or unused land in Mekong Delta and Central Highlands, and cultivating technological and scientific achievements to transform South Vietnam and ensure security and prevent communist infiltration. Diệm believed that the program would help improve civilians' lives, teach them the values of being self-reliant and hard working. At the end of 1963, the program had built more than two hundred settlements for a quarter of a million people. Nevertheless, the lacks of conditions in these areas along with the corruption and mercilessness of local officials failed the program.<ref name=":6"/>
[[File:President Diem is welcomed by monks and village elders.jpg|left|thumb|297x297px|Diem (center right) is welcomed by [[monk]]s and [[Elder (administrative title)|village elders]] in central Vietnam.]]
'''Agroville program''' (''khu trù mật''): During late 1959 and early 1960, motivated by the idea of population reunification, Diệm introduced the [[Strategic Hamlet Program|Agroville Program]], which he intended to physically relocate residents who lived in remote and isolated regions in Mekong delta into new settlements in "dense and prosperous areas"{{snd}}proposing to offer them urban modernity and amenities without leaving their farms,
According to Miller, the disagreement between the US and Diệm over agrarian reform made their alliance "move steadily from bad to worse".<ref name=":6" /> Miller argues that Diệm expressed "genuine desire to end the exploitation and misery that afflicted millions of South Vietnamese rural residents", and wished to support poor peasantry by gradual modernisation and moderate redistribution of land. Diệm's ideal was rendering the Vietnamese countryside dominated by freeholding farmers with roughly equal position of wealth. Diệm wanted to acquire and distribute the land of rich landowners, but also wished to protect the property of middle-class ones.<ref>Miller, p. 161.</ref> One of the main concerns of Diệm was overpopulation, aggravated by the mass migration of refugees from the North, something that Diệm wished to alleviate by resettlement. Diệm considered resettlement an important part of his economic nationalism, arguing that utilising Vietnamese land would increase the production of grains and rubber and allow South Vietnam to enter international trade. Ideologically, Diệm considered this policy a key to his "Personalist revolution" – the resettled villages would be "neither communist-style collectives nor incubators of rugged individualism", but they would rather conform to his ideal of communitarianism. Rendering landless peasants freeholders was seen as a step towards reforming the Vietnamese society as a whole.<ref>Miller, p. 163.</ref>
In late 1955, a Cai San Project was launched that aimed to settle northern refugees in rural areas previously occupied by Hòa Hảo partisans. This project created an intense social conflict between the settlers and Cai San natives, and Diệm offered a concession to the local landowners by decreeing that refugees must sign rental contracts with them. This sparked refugee demonstrations that only started to fade away when Diệm ordered that refugees have the right to buy out the land they worked at.<ref>Miller, p. 169.</ref> While initially considered a failure, especially due to the fact that the resettlement sparked anti-government sentiment and created social conflicts, Miller notes that Cai San became fairly prosperous by 1960, and the settlement did gradually evolve into a pro-government stronghold, thus succeeding in its aim at counter-insurgency. Many of the counter-insurgency programs progressed too quickly however, and ended up destabilising the regime.<ref>Miller, p. 170.</ref> ===Counter-insurgency===
{{Main|1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt|1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing}}
During his presidency, Diệm strongly focused on his central concern: internal security to protect his regime as well as maintain order and social change: staunch anti-subversion and anti-rebellion policies. After the Bình Xuyên was defeated and the Hòa Hảo and Cao Đài were subdued, Diệm concentrated on his most serious threat: the communists. Diệm's main measures for internal security were threats, punishment and intimidation.<ref name="Miller, p.187">Miller, p. 187</ref> His regime countered North Vietnamese and communist subversion (including the assassination of over 450 South Vietnamese officials in 1956) by detaining tens of thousands of suspected communists in "political re-education centers". The North Vietnamese government claimed that over 65,000 individuals were imprisoned and 2,148 killed in the process by November 1957.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Robert F.|title=Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development|year=1975|publisher=[[Hoover Institution]] Publications|isbn=978-0817964313|pages=174–178}}</ref> According to historian [[Gabriel Kolko]], from 1955 to by the end of 1958, 40,000 political prisoners had been jailed and 12,000 were executed.<ref>Kolko, p. 89.</ref>
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[[File:Gvnhamlet.jpg|thumb|South Vietnamese "Strategic Hamlet"|229x229px]]
In 1962, the cornerstone of Diệm's counterinsurgency effort – the [[Strategic Hamlet Program]] (''Vietnamese:'' ''Ấp Chiến lược''), "the last and most ambitious of Diem's government's nation building schemes", was implemented, calling for the consolidation of 14,000 villages of South Vietnam into 11,000 secure hamlets, each with its own houses, schools, wells, and watchtowers supported by South Vietnamese government. The hamlets were intended to isolate the VC from the villages, their source for recruiting soldiers, supplies, and information, and to transform the countryside. In the end, because of many shortcomings, the Strategic Hamlet Program was not as successful as had been expected and was cancelled after the assassination of Diệm. However, according to Miller, the program created a remarkable turnabout in Diệm's regime in their war against communism.<ref name="Miller, p. 247">Miller, p. 247.</ref> [[Frederick Nolting]] reported that Diệm named reestablishing control and security as his number one priority regarding the countryside. While appearing receptive to building an "infrastructure of democracy" in the rural areas, Diệm emphasised that it would have to wait until the conclusion of the war.<ref name="Miller, p. 247"/>
===Religious policies and the Buddhist crisis===
{{Main|Buddhist crisis}}{{See also|Huế Phật Đản shootings|Huế chemical attacks|Thích Quảng Đức|Xá Lợi Pagoda raids}}
By most estimates, Buddhism was followed by 70–90% of the population,<ref>[http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/vietnam_war/3033916.html The 1966 Buddhist Crisis in South Vietnam] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304102006/http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/vietnam_war/3033916.html |date=4 March 2008 }} HistoryNet</ref><ref>Gettleman, pp. 275–276, 366.</ref><ref>Moyar, pp. 215–216.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874816-2,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041419/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874816-2,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=30 September 2007 | magazine=Time | title=South Viet Nam: The Religious Crisis | date=14 June 1963 | access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref><ref>Tucker, pp. 49, 291, 293.</ref><ref>Maclear, p. 63.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/doc125.htm |title=SNIE 53-2-63, "The Situation in South Vietnam, 10 July 1963<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=19 April 2007 |archive-date=9 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109110224/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/doc125.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> though some estimates place it lower, and Buddhism was followed alongside other traditions such as [[Vietnamese folk religion]] and [[Taoism]].<ref name="Słowiak">{{cite journal |last1=Słowiak |first1=Jerema |title=Role of the Religion and Politico-Religious Organizations in the South Vietnam During Ngo Dinh Diem Period |journal=Nauki Społeczne |date=2017 |issue=16 |pages=109–124 |publisher=Zeszyty Naukowe Towarzystwa Doktorantów UJ |location=Kraków |url=https://depot.ceon.pl/bitstream/handle/123456789/13747/Jarema%20S%C5%82owiak%20Role%20of%20the%20Religion%20and%20Politico-Religious%20Organizations.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1 |issn=2082-9213}}</ref>
Diem was 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 service and military promotions, as well as the allocation of land, business favors, and tax concessions.<ref>Tucker, p. 291.</ref> Diệm allegedly once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that he was a Buddhist, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted."<ref name="Słowiak"/> Many officers in the ARVN converted to Catholicism in the belief that their military prospects depended on it.<ref>Gettleman, pp. 280–282.</ref> The distribution of weapons to village self-defense militias intended to repel VC guerrillas saw weapons only given to Catholics. Some Buddhist villages converted en masse to Catholicism in order to receive aid or to avoid being forcibly resettled by Diệm's regime,<ref>Buttinger, p. 993</ref> with Buddhists in the army being denied promotion if they refused to convert to Catholicism.<ref name="sv">{{cite news|title=South Vietnam: Whose funeral pyre? |publisher=[[The New Republic]] |page=9| date=29 June 1963}}</ref> Some Catholic priests ran their own private armies,<ref>Warner, p. 210.</ref> and in some areas forced conversions, looting, shelling, and demolition of [[pagoda]]s occurred.<ref>Fall, p. 199.</ref> Słowiak argues that
[[File:Flag of Buddhism.svg|alt=Flag flown by Vietnamese buddhist during the protests.|thumb|231x231px|Flag flown by [[Buddhism in Vietnam|Vietnamese buddhists]] during the protests.]]
The Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country, and the "private" status imposed on Buddhism by the French required official permission to conduct public Buddhist activities and was never repealed by Diệm.<ref>Karnow, p. 294</ref> Catholics were also ''de facto'' exempt from the ''[[corvée]]'' labor that the government obliged all citizens to perform; US aid was disproportionately distributed to Catholic-majority villages.<ref name=j91>Jacobs p. 91</ref> The land owned by the Catholic Church was exempt from land reform.<ref>Buttinger p. 933.</ref> Under Diệm, the Catholic Church enjoyed special exemptions in property acquisition, and in 1959, Diệm dedicated his country to the [[Virgin Mary]].<ref name=j91/> The white and gold Vatican flag was regularly flown at all major public events in South Vietnam.<ref name="crusade">{{cite news|title=Diem's other crusade| date=22 June 1963|publisher=[[The New Republic]]|pages=5–6}}</ref> The newly constructed [[Hue University|Hue]] and Dalat universities were placed under Catholic authority to foster a Catholic-skewed academic environment.<ref name="diembudd">{{cite news|first=David |last=Halberstam| author-link=David Halberstam| title=Diệm and the Buddhists| work=[[New York Times]]| date=17 June 1963}}</ref> Nonetheless, Diệm had contributed to Buddhist communities in South Vietnam by giving them permission to carry out activities that were banned by the French and supported money for Buddhist schools, ceremonies, and building more pagodas. Among the eighteen members of Diệm's cabinet, there were five Catholics, five [[Confucian]]s, and eight Buddhists, including a vice-president and a foreign minister. Only three of the top nineteen military officials were Catholics.<ref>Moyar, p. 216</ref>
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The Buddhists pushed for a five-point agreement: freedom to fly religious flags, an end to arbitrary arrests, compensation for the Huế victims, punishment for the officials responsible, and [[religious equality]]. Diệm then banned demonstrations and ordered his forces to arrest those who engaged in civil disobedience. On 3 June 1963, protesters attempted to march towards the [[Từ Đàm pagoda]]. Six waves of ARVN tear gas and attack dogs failed to disperse the crowds. Finally, brownish-red liquid chemicals [[Hue chemical attacks|were doused on praying protesters]], resulting in 67 being hospitalized for chemical injuries. A curfew was subsequently enacted.<ref>Jacobs, p. 145</ref>
[[File:Thích_Quảng_Đức_self-immolation.jpg|thumb|[[Buddhist monk]], [[Thích Quảng Đức]], set himself on fire in the middle of a busy Saigon intersection in protest of Diệm's policies|left|272x272px]]
The 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 of Diệm's policies; photos of this event were disseminated around the world, and for many people these pictures came to represent the failure of Diệm's government.<ref>Moyar, p. 220.</ref> A number of other monks publicly [[self-immolated]], and the US grew increasingly frustrated with the unpopular leader's public image in both Vietnam and the United States. Diệm used his conventional anti-communist argument, identifying the dissenters as communists. As demonstrations against his government continued throughout the summer, the special forces loyal to Diệm's brother, Nhu, conducted an August raid of the [[Xá Lợi pagoda]] in Saigon. Pagodas were vandalized, monks beaten, and the cremated remains of Quảng Đức, which included his heart, a religious relic, were confiscated. [[Xá Lợi Pagoda raids|Simultaneous raids]] were carried out across the country, with the Từ Đàm pagoda in Huế looted, the statue of [[Gautama Buddha]] demolished, and the body of a deceased monk confiscated.<ref>Jacobs, pp. 147–154.</ref> When the populace came to the defense of the monks, the resulting clashes saw 30 civilians killed and 200 wounded. In all 1,400 monks were arrested, and some thirty were injured across the country. The United States indicated its disapproval of Diệm's administration when ambassador [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] visited the pagoda. No further mass Buddhist protests occurred during the remainder of Diệm's rule.<ref>Moyar, pp. 212–216, 231–234</ref>
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[[Madame Nhu]] Trần Lệ Xuân, Nhu's wife, inflamed the situation by mockingly applauding the suicides, stating, "If the Buddhists want to have another barbecue, I will be glad to supply the gasoline."<ref>Jacobs, p. 149.</ref> The pagoda raids stoked widespread public disquiet in [[Saigon]]. Students at Saigon University boycotted classes and rioted, which led to arrests, imprisonments, and the closure of the university; this was repeated at Huế University. When high school students demonstrated, Diệm arrested them as well; over 1,000 students from Saigon's leading high school, most of them children of Saigon civil servants, were sent to re-education camps, including, reportedly, children as young as five, on charges of anti-government graffiti. Diệm's foreign minister [[Vũ Văn Mẫu]] resigned, shaving his head like a Buddhist monk in protest.<ref>Jacobs, p. 154.</ref> When he attempted to leave the country on a religious pilgrimage to India, he was detained and kept under house arrest.<ref>Sheehan, p. 357.</ref>
At the same time that the [[Buddhist crisis]] was taking place, a French diplomatic initiative to end the war had been launched. The initiative was known to historians as the "Maneli affair", after [[Mieczysław Maneli]], the Polish Commissioner to the International Control Commission who served as an intermediary between the two Vietnams. In 1963, North Vietnam was suffering its worst drought in a generation. Maneli conveyed messages between Hanoi and Saigon negotiating a declaration of a ceasefire in exchange for South Vietnamese rice being traded for North Vietnamese coal.<ref>Jacobs, p. 165.</ref> On 2 September 1963, Maneli met with Nhu at his office in the Gia Long Palace, a meeting that Nhu leaked to the American columnist [[Joseph Alsop]], who revealed it to the world in his "A Matter of Fact" column in the ''Washington Post''.<ref>Langguth, p. 234.</ref> Nhu's purpose in leaking the meeting was to blackmail the United States with the message that if Kennedy continued to criticize
There have been many interpretations of the Buddhist crisis and the immolation of Thích Quảng Đức in 1963. Relating the events to the larger context of [[Vietnamese Buddhism]] in the 20th century and looking at the interactions between Diệm and Buddhist groups, the Buddhist protests during Diệm's regime were not only the struggles against discrimination in religious practices and religious freedom, but also the resistance of Vietnamese Buddhism to Diệm's [[nation-building]] policies centered by a [[personalist]] revolution that Buddhists considered a threat to the revival of Vietnamese Buddhist power.<ref name="Miller, p. 262">Miller, p. 262.</ref> Until the end of his life, Diệm, along with his brother Nhu still believed that their nation-building was successful and they could resolve the Buddhist crisis in their own way, like what they had done with the Hinh crisis in 1954 and the struggle with the Bình Xuyên in 1955.<ref>Miller, pp. 277–278.</ref>
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===Foreign policy===
[[File:Ngo Dinh Diem at Washington - ARC 542189.jpg|thumb|Diệm, accompanied by US Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]], arrives at [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport|Washington National Airport]] in 1957. Diệm is shown shaking hands with
{{Main|Ngô Đình Diệm presidential visit to Australia|Ngô Đình Diệm presidential visit to the United States}}The foreign policy of the [[Republic of Vietnam]] (RVN), according to Fishel, "to a very considerable extent", was the policy of
Diệm himself during this period.<ref>Henderson and Fishel, p. 4.</ref> He was the decisive factor in formulating foreign policies of the RVN, besides the roles of his adviser – Ngô Đình Nhu and his foreign ministers: [[Trần Văn Độ]] (1954–1955), Vũ Văn Mẫu (1955–1963) and [[Phạm Đăng Lâm]] (1963) who played subordinate roles in his regime. Nevertheless, since Diệm had to pay much attention to domestic issues in the context of the Vietnam War, foreign policy did not receive appropriate attention from him. Diệm paid more attention to countries that affected Vietnam directly and he seemed to personalize and emotionalize relations with other nations.<ref name=":7">Henderson and Fishel, p. 5.</ref> The issues Diệm paid more attention in foreign affairs were: the Geneva Accords, the withdrawal of the French, international recognition, the cultivation of the legitimacy of the RVN and the relations with the United States, Laos (good official relations) and [[Cambodia]] (complicated relations, especially due to border disputes and minority ethnicities), and especially North Vietnam.<ref name=":7"/> Besides, the RVN also focused on [[diplomatic relations]] with other Asian countries to secure its international recognition.<ref>Henderson and Fishel</ref> [[File:Jawaharlal Nehru and Ngo Dinh Diem in 1957.jpg|alt=Ngo Dinh Diem meeting with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during a visit to India on 8 November 1957|thumb|228x228px|
Diệm's attitude toward [[India]] was not harmonious due to India's non-alignment policy, which Diệm assumed favored communism. It was not until in 1962, when India voted for a report criticizing the communists for supporting the invasion of South Vietnam, that Diệm eventually reviewed his opinions toward India.<ref>Henderson and Fishel, p. 22.</ref> For [[Japan]], Diệm's regime established diplomatic relations for the recognition of war reparations, which led to a reparation agreement in 1959 with the amount of US$49 million (equivalent to US$514 million in 2023). Diệm also established friendly relations with non-communist states, especially [[Republic of Korea|South Korea]], [[Republic of China|Taiwan]], the [[Republic of the Philippines|Philippines]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], Laos and the [[Federation of Malaya]], where Diệm's regime shared the common recognition of communist threats.<ref>Henderson and Fishel, pp. 23–24.</ref>
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==Aftermath==
Upon learning of Diệm's ouster and assassination, Hồ Chí Minh reportedly stated: "I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid".<ref name="moyarp286">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phJrZ87RwuAC&pg=PA286 |page=286 |title=Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 |isbn=9781139459211 |last1=Moyar |first1=Mark |date=28 August 2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> The North Vietnamese Politburo was more explicit:<blockquote>The consequences of the 1 November coup d'état will be contrary to the calculations of the US imperialists ... Diệm 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 Diệm. Diệm was one of the most competent lackeys of the US 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.<ref name="moyarp286"/></blockquote>
After Diệm's assassination, South Vietnam was unable to establish a stable government and several coups took place. While the United States continued to influence South Vietnam's government, the assassination bolstered North Vietnamese attempts to characterize the South Vietnamese as "supporters of colonialism".<ref>Moyar, pp. 287–90</ref>
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==Honours==
===Foreign honours===
[[File:President Chiang Kai-shek presented the Order of Brilliant Jade to Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.jpg|thumb|[[President of the Republic of China|
*{{flag|Malaya}}:
**[[File:MY Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara (Crown of the Realm) - DMN.svg|
*{{flag|Philippines}}:
**[[File:PHI_Order_of_Sikatuna_2003_Grand_Collar_BAR.svg|
*{{flag|Thailand}}
**[[File:Order of Chula Chom Klao - 1st Class (Thailand) ribbon.svg|
*{{flag|Australia}}
**[[File:UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg|70px]] Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of St. Michael and St. George]], ''1957''<ref>{{cite book| first=Paul|last=Ham|author-link=Paul Ham|title=[[Vietnam: the Australian War]]|year=2007|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0-7322-8237-0 |location=Pymble, New South Wales}}, p. 57</ref>
*{{flag|
**[[File:ROK_Order_of_Merit_for_National_Foundation_-_Order_of_the_Republic_of_Korea.png|70px]] First Class of the [[Order of Merit for National Foundation]], ''1957''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archives.kdemo.or.kr/isad/view/00716599|title=경무대에서 상호 훈장 수여식 후 기념촬영|newspaper=Open Archives, Korea Democracy Foundation|access-date=20 March 2024|lang=ko}}</ref>
** [[File:Order of Brilliant Jade (Taiwan) - ribbon bar.gif|70px]] [[Order of Brilliant Jade]], ''1960''<ref>{{Cite web |last=中華民國文化部 |title=總統蔣公影輯—接見外賓 （十）-文化部國家文化記憶庫 |url=https://memory.culture.tw/Home/Detail?Id=002-050106-00010-052&IndexCode=drnh |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=memory.culture.tw |language=zh-TW}}</ref>▼
*{{flag|Republic of China}}
▲** [[File:Order of Brilliant Jade (Taiwan) - ribbon bar.gif|70px]] [[Order of Brilliant Jade]], ''1960''<ref>{{Cite web |last=中華民國文化部 |title=總統蔣公影輯—接見外賓 （十）-文化部國家文化記憶庫 |url=https://memory.culture.tw/Home/Detail?Id=002-050106-00010-052&IndexCode=drnh |access-date=
==Legacy==
Line 320 ⟶ 328:
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB101/index.htm JFK and the Diem Coup] – Provided by the ''[[National Security Archive]]''.
* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/pent6.htm ''The Pentagon Papers'', Vol. 2 Ch. 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424035939/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon2/pent6.htm |date=24 April 2008 }} "The Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, May–November, 1963", pp. 201–276
Line 382 ⟶ 391:
[[Category:Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Vietnamese Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Assassinated presidents in Asia]]
[[Category:
[[Category:20th-century presidents in Asia]]
[[Category:Executed mass murderers]]
[[Category:Politicians killed in wars]]
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