South Vietnam President
Ngo Dinh Diem
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Ngo Dinh Diem Facts: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Ngo Dinh Diem.
Who was Ngo Dinh Diem? Ngo Dinh Diem was
the ruthless and unpopular President of
South Vietnam from 1955–1963 during the
Vietnam War. Diem was backed by the US
government until he was assassinated on 2
November, 1963.
Why did the United States support Ngo Dinh Diem? The
United States supported Diem because they
believed that as a staunch anti-communist he
would enforce democracy in South Vietnam.
Why was Ngo Dinh Diem unpopular?
Ngo Dinh Diem ruled using terror tactics and
fear assisted by his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu,
the brutal and corrupt head of the Can Lao,
the South Vietnamese secret police. Diem
refused to hold a General Election and
arrested his opponents, putting
100,000 people into prison camps. Diem
belonged to the minority Catholic religion
and persecuted the Buddhists leading to the
much publicized suicides of Buddhist monks
who set themselves alight.
What happened to Ngo Dinh Diem?
American officials sympathized with
Vietnamese generals who were plotting to
overthrow Diem. The generals seized power
and Diem, and his brother Nhu, were
assassinated on November 2, 1963.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on Ngo Dinh Diem.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts for kids
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 1: Ngo Dinh Diem was
born in the Phu Cam, Hue, Vietnam on 3 January 1901. His
ancestors had been converted to Christianity by Catholic
missionaries and Diem was raised as a staunch Catholic. Vietnam
had became part of the French
Empire in 1862 and Diem was educated at French Catholic
schools.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
2: The main religion
in Vietnam was Buddhism and about 70% of the population
were followers of Buddha. Roman Catholics was a minority
religion and made up only just over 10% of the
population in South Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 3: The French rewarded Roman
Catholics in Vietnam by appointing them to influential government
positions. The Vietnamese government officials who helped administer
the country for the French were Catholics and passed various
anti-Buddhist laws.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 4: Diem became a government
administrator and by the age of twenty-five years old he became a
provincial governor of the Běnh Thuan province in Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 5: In 1930
Ho Chi Minh had helped to form the Indo-Chinese Communist Party.
(Ho Chi Minh eventually became the first president of North Vietnam
(1954-1969) and the leader of the People's Army of
Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The Viet
Cong were Vietnamese supporters of the communist National Liberation
Front (NLF) who fought the guerrilla war in South Vietnam).
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 6: In collaboration with French
forces, Diem helped to the suppress the first Vietnamese peasant
revolts, organized by the communists, in 1930 and 1931.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 7: In 1933 Diem was appointed, by
the French, to the position of interior minister to Emperor Bao Dai
(Emperor Bao Dai was the 13th and last emperor of Vietnam, who
reigned from 8 January 1926 - 25 August 1945 when he abdicated and
retired to France).
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 8: Emperor Bao Dai was an ineffective ruler who needed the
support of the French colonial regime. Diem attempted to convince Bao
Dai to make him the Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, but his
request was denied. He lost his political position when he denounced Bao
Dai as "nothing but an instrument in the hands of the French".
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 9: In 1941 the Viet Minh
(League for the Independence of Vietnam) was formed, primarily
led by Communists, to counter the Japanese invasion of Vietnam. Japan
handed Vietnam to the Viet Minh in 1945.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 10: Diem was exiled by
the Viet Minh but gathered support for a "third force"
Nationalist government as an alternative to communism
and French colonialism. During his exile he met American
academic Wesley Fishel, a proponent of the "third
force" ideology that opposed communism and colonialism.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 11: In July and August
1945, the Allied Powers met in Berlin for the Potsdam
Conference and agreed to partition Vietnam into a
Northern and a Southern region. In September 1945
Ho Chi Minh declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
and became the first president of North Vietnam (1954-1969).
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
12: Between 1946 and
1954, the Viet Minh fought against the French
for control of the country, the conflict was known as
the First Indochina War. During the
French-Indochina War, Diem left Vietnam for the United
States where Wesley Fishel arranged for him to meet with
influential politicians and Catholics, including John F.
Kennedy.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 13: Diem took the
opportunity to emphasize his opposition to communism and
French colonialism and argued that he would make a good
leader of Vietnam if the French decided to withdraw.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
14: The Battle of Dien
Bien Phu (March 13, 1954 – May 7, 1954) ended the French
effort to retain Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the
Indochina War. The United States promised $100 million
worth of aid to
the anti-communist Vietnam, in line with the
US Policy of Containment
to restrict the spread of communism.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 15: The Geneva Accords of 1954
were designed to secure peace in Vietnam and organize an interim
government in Vietnam pending elections in 1956 to reunify the
country and Vietnam’s transition to independence. The United States
delegation proposed Diem's name as the new ruler of South Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 16: The French vehemently opposed
the proposal claiming that Diem was "not only incapable, but
mad". However, eventually it was decided that Diem presented the
best opportunity to keep South Vietnam from falling under the
control of communism.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 17: Ho Chi Minh became the first president of
communist North Vietnam (1954-1969) and the leader of the People's Army of
Vietnam (PAVN or North Vietnamese Army).
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 18: Following the Geneva Accords,
there was a 300-day period in which people could freely move between
the two regions of Vietnam (later known as South Vietnam and North
Vietnam). The U.S. Navy program called 'Operation Passage to
Freedom' saw up to one million North Vietnamese, most of them
Catholics, to South Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts - 19: The proposed interim elections
were held, with Diem's brother, Ngo Děnh Nhu, organizing and
supervising the elections. In October 1955, the pro-American,
anti-communist Ngo Dinh
Diem proclaimed the formation of the
Republic of Vietnam and became President of South Vietnam.
Continued...
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts for kids
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about the Ngo Dinh Diem for kids
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Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts for kids
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
20:
The North Vietnamese government reminded
Diem of the terms of the 1954 Geneva Conference and that
a General Election for the whole of the country was due
in July, 1956.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
21:
Diem refused to hold a General Election,
arrested his opponents and put 100,000 people into
prison camps. He specifically targeted communists,
trade-unionists, journalists, socialists, leaders of
religious groups and Buddhist monks.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
22: With the
cancellation of the General Election, Ho Chi Minh and
his followers began their own mission to reunify
Vietnam. They organized a guerrilla army known as the
Viet Cong who formed armed guerrilla groups to fight in
the jungles of South Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
23: The Viet Cong were
Vietnamese supporters of the communist National
Liberation Front (NLF or National Front for the
Liberation of the South) who fought the guerrilla war in
South Vietnam between 1959 and 1975 in an attempt
to topple President
Ngo Dinh Diem and his American
backers.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
24: The
Vietnam
War (1955 - 1975) started
on November 1, 1955. Fighting began between Diem's
forces in South Vietnam and the communist Viet Cong and
President Dwight Eisenhower increased aid and sent
hundreds of military advisors to train South Vietnam's
army in order to keep South Vietnam from falling under
the control of communism.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
25: The Americans soon
discovered that Diem was unwilling to be just a 'puppet'
ruler and was creating a right-wing dictatorship in
South Vietnam. Diem constantly rejected advice from the
Americans and made decisions that upset the South
Vietnamese people. Several attempts were made to
overthrow Diem but he survived.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
26: His brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu,
wielded considerable power as the corrupt and brutal
head of the Can Lao, the South Vietnamese secret police. Nhu,
and his terror tactics were
hated by the South Vietnamese population as was his spiteful,
extravagant wife, Madame Nhu. They cared little for the peasants and
the actions of this powerful couple increased the hatred of
many South Vietnamese.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
27: Despite the
assistance from America, the Viet Cong therefore gained
more power and influence because many Vietnamese opposed
Diem's corrupt and anti-communist government and its
Catholic officials. Their pro-Catholic policies
antagonized many Buddhists.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
28: Although the
Americans were unhappy with Diem's performance as
president, they felt they had no choice but to support
him. President Kennedy assumed the presidency in 1961
and increased military aid and the number of American
advisors in Vietnam. By 1963 the number of
military-related personnel had increased from 2000 to
about 15,000.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
29: American officials
urged Diem to adopt a more democratic form of government
and introduce reforms to help the Vietnamese peasants.
His reforms were limited and one of the ideas he
introduced, on the advice of the Americans, relating to
'Strategic Hamlets' resulted in more hatred for the Diem
the dictator.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
30: The 'Strategic
Hamlets' were special fortified villages armed with
machine guns that were protected by trenches, bunkers
and barbed wire. Peasants strongly resented being
uprooted from their homes and moved to the 'Strategic
Hamlets' which were clearly designed not only to protect
the peasants from the Viet Cong, but also to prevent the
peasants from giving aid to the Viet Cong.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
31: The Diem
government had consistently refused to repeal the
anti-Buddhist laws which had been initially passed in
the days of French colonialism. On May 8, 1963,
Buddhists assembled in Hue to celebrate the 2527th
birthday of the Buddha. Attempts were made to disperse
the crowds and the police opened fire on them. Eight
children and a woman were killed as they attempted to
run away from the police and others were injured.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
32: Angry
demonstrations followed against the Diem government
referred to as the Buddhist Crisis. The Buddhists were
furious and asked for volunteers to commit suicide to
attract world attention to the situation. On 10 June
1963, U.S. journalists were informed that "something
important" would happen the following morning on the
road outside the Cambodian embassy in Saigon.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
33: On June 11, 1963,
Thich Quang Due, a 66 year old Buddhist monk, sat down
in the middle of the busy Saigon street. He was
surrounded by a group of Buddhist monks and nuns who
poured petrol over his head and then set fire to him.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
34: Photographs of the
terrible death of Thich Quang Due appeared on the front
pages of newspapers around the world and people learned
that Thich Quang Due had burned to death as a public
protest to the persecution of Buddhists by the South
Vietnamese government led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
35: By August 1963
another five Buddhist monks had committed suicide by
setting fire to themselves.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
36: The response of
Diem's government to the suicides was to declare martial
law and arrest thousands of Buddhist monks.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
37: The 'Buddhist
Crisis' and other events surrounding the brutal and
corrupt government of Diem convinced President Kennedy
that Diem would never be able to unite the South
Vietnamese against communism. Up to this point Kennedy
had always instructed the CIA and the US military forces
in Vietnam to protect the dictator but this policy
toward Diem now changed.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
38:
American officials sympathized with
Vietnamese generals who were plotting to overthrow Diem.
The generals launched a US-backed military coup and
seized power on November 1, 1963.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
39:
The Vietnamese generals at first promised
Diem that he would be allowed to leave the country but
they changed their mind the next day and Ngo Dinh Diem,
together with his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, were killed on
November 2, 1963
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
40: Diem was replaced
by Nguyen Van Thieu, the chief of staff of the Armed
Forces of South Vietnam. The new government grew
increasingly weak and unstable and the United States
became even more involved in the Vietnam War. (The
first US combat troops were not sent to Vietnam
until March 1965).
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts -
41: Coincidently,
three weeks after the overthrow of Diem, President
Kennedy was also assassinated
on November 22, 1963.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Facts for kids
Ngo Dinh Diem - President John
F Kennedy Video
The article on Ngo Dinh Diem provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important
people in the Vietnam War. The following
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president.
Ngo Dinh Diem
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Summary of the Ngo Dinh Diem
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The Ngo Dinh Diem, a major
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John F Kennedy and Diem
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