Ngo Dinh Diem

(1901–1963), first president of the first Republic of Vietnam. Born of a well-known Catholic family of central Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem (pronounced N-go Dinh Ziem) pursued a Westernized education that, in his time, still preserved some values of the traditional Confucian system. It prepared him for a brilliant career in the royal government of Vietnam, in which he rose to the level of provincial governor at the age of twenty-eight. His career took an advantageous turn in 1933, when the young emperor Bao Dai offered him the position of minister of the interior in the first cabinet of his reign. Following some difference of opinion with either the emperor orhis close collaborators, Diem handed in his resignation a few days later, whereon he was stripped of all his functions and honorific distinctions. Subsequently, the court gave back his medals, without, however, reintegrating him into the government.

Diem acquired a reputation of independence, honesty, and integrity, which increased further when, in 1945, he refused to collaborate with the first government of independent Vietnam headed by Ho Chi Minh because he accused the Communists of the murder of one of his brothers. Diem's hopes of playing a role in public affairs on the side of the Frenchsponsored anticommunist factions were totally dashed in 1949 when the French chose his nemesis, the former emperor Bao Dai, as the head of the State of Vietnam they built up as the rival to Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Disheartened, Ngo Dinh Diem went on a world tour, which ultimately landed him in the United States.

Meanwhile, the State of Vietnam did not live up to expectations: Its government was corrupt to the core, its attraction as a "nationalist" substitute to the DRV was limited, and the war turned from bad to worse. Then followed Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference. The United States put intense pressure on France and Bao Dai to give Diem a chance. He was then appointed prime minister of the State of Vietnam; his government was presented on 7 July 1954, a mere two weeks before the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into two temporary administrative zones. With U.S. aid, Diem firmly intended to delete the word "temporary" from the Accords.

After securing total control of the army, Diem unleashed it against the political factions that had been the loyal supporters of Bao Dai: the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Binh Xuyen. He then turned against Bao Dai by organizing a plebiscite in which the people had to choose between Bao Dai and Diem as chief of state. Diem got more than 90 percent of the votes. On 25 October 1955, Diem created the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) and proclaimed himself its first president. A period of authoritarian government ensued, and as popular support dwindled, Diem relied more and more on members of his own family. His terror campaign against suspected Communists and his dictatorial rule alienated even noncommunist dissidents, who, in 1960, with the assistance of the DRV, formed the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF), the aim of which was the overthrow of Diem's republic and the reunification of Vietnam. The United States stayed firmly behind the Diem regime, which it hoped to make into a bastion of resistance against the expansion of Communism. But in 1963, on a trivial government interdiction against flying the Buddhist flag during the celebration of Buddha's birthday, the Buddhist hierarchy led the Buddhist community of Vietnam in an unprecedented revolt against the Diem government, whom the rebels accused of discrimination and excessive repression. The open Buddhist rebellion combined with the military attacks mounted by the NLF rendered Ngo Dinh Diem's government completely inoperative; the war against Communist subversion in South Vietnam suffered intolerable setbacks.

Washington then allowed the army to mount a coup against Diem on 1 November 1963; the next day, Diem and one of his brothers were killed. Thus ended the first Republic of Vietnam. The people who lived through it used only one short expression to describe it: "What a pity!" They felt that Diem was an honest and strong leader, the only one—compared with his successors—able to resist the interference of foreign powers, despite his connections with his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu and his wife. He appeared to have all the objective conditions to build up a viable alternative to the DRV, but many think he squandered them by a wrong assessment of the needs of his people.

Halberstam, David. (1965) The Making of a Quagmire. New York: Random House.

Warner, Denis A. (1963) The Last Confucian. New York: Macmillan.

——. (1971) The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of the United States Decisionmaking on Vietnam. 2 vols. Boston: Beacon Press.

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