When America Supported Ngo Dinh Diem as ruler of Vietnam

"With the French defeat, the United states could no longer support anti-communism in Vietnam at a distance. At first it was a Question of finding an anti-communist leader and establishing an administration. The United States would soon fill the space vacated by France with a man named Ngo Dinh Diem."

When Diem was set as the leader of Vietnam the United States were optimistic. This was suppose to be a good change to Vietnam and possibly weaken the influence of Communism in Vietnam. But it appears that Ngo Dinh Diem in office split the country apart and strengthened the Communist party in Vietnam and bought them more together.

Many of the policies and laws that Ngo Dinh Diem came up with were good for only a small portion of the country. Even though most people in Vietnam were Buddhist, he decided to concentrate on the Catholics in Vietnam. With the support of the United States, Ngo Dinh Diem influenced some catholics in believing the Vietnamese in the north were against Catholics and would shut down the churches there. Most of the Catholics who lived in the North moved South. Many of the Catholics who moved south received financial support which influenced more to move. This caused a split in Vietnam. Most of the Vietnamese in the north were Buddhist and the Vietnamese in the South were Catholic. This is one of the policies that divided up the Vietnamese people and possibly strengthened the communist Party.

After ,the war against colonialism a lot of power was taking away from the landlords. And the peasants had an easier time surviving. But when Ngo Dinh Diem came into power he reversed the policies which came in effect after the war against colonialism. Power was being given back to the landlords. Now few tenants could afford the land. The rent was sometimes higher then before. Most of the nations wealth was in the upper class. Most people in Vietnam were peasants. Most of the peasants had hard times now paying the rent, feeding their families, basically surviving. This strengthened the Communist Party. In the communist Party everything is spread equally, there is no high discrepancy between people. This would appeal to the peasants because if the land was split up equally they would not be struggling as much while the upper class was living in luxury. 

Ngo Dinh Diem took more power away from the common people in Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem abolished the village councils which were "local government bodies formed by popular elections." The Vietnamese were losing rights and a voice. Ngo Dinh Diem was gaining a  lot of control. This was another step which caused the peasants to band together and lean more towards Communism. At least many of the Vietnamese felt Ngo Dinh Diem had too much power and either needed to have some of the power taking away or to stop him completely.

Ngo Dinh Diem caused a huge split in Vietnam. There was vast differences between Vietnamese on the North side and Vietnamese on the south side. Most of the ethnic tribes allied themselves with the north and started attacking South Vietnam.  People in the North stated going against Ngo Dinh Diem. There was chaos now forming in Vietnam. Many of the peasants had enough and were now striking back. Not only were the baning against Ngo Dinh Diem but also fighting against the landlords and Upper class. Vietnam was going to need someone who could stop the chaos.

Comments

[A. Mattson]

A good post, but always cite your sources.

You have covered a lot of ground here. The Diem regime was never able to live up to our high expectations. One point: The Southern population was not mostly Catholic. Catholics were a minority in Vietnam. Also not all of the other ethnic groups supported the North or any Vietnamese regime. The ethnic minorities had not been well-treated by the Vietnamese majority traditionally.