"'Look, they stepped all over my shoes,' Diem said with wonder on the return plane ride to Saigon. [...] He had been reluctant to go, content to govern from his office in the palace. Now he was glad he had listened to Lansdale..."
Ngo Dinh Diem is famous for being the U.S. selected puppet president of South Vietnam. Popular to the landowners, he was unpoplular in the poor countryside regions. In this quote he seems to be coming to the (false) understanding that the public adores him. Is it possible self-trickery like this led to hid confidence in letting his brother run a Nazi inspired secret police? Could he have been blinded by U.S. support enough to think that decisions like these would not affect his popularity?