From the 1954 Geneva Conference to the Diem regime in South Vietnam

How the infamous Ngo Dinh Diem came to power

The 1954 Geneva Accords were going to leave Bao Dai (the “Playboy Emperor”) and the United States in a difficult position. President Eisenhower predicted that an election would result in “possibly 80 percent of the population voting for Ho Chi Minh”. The Americans were also concerned about the very real threat of Chinese forces backing the North Vietnamese army and crossing the 17th Parallel to invade South Vietnam. To add to their woes Emperor Bao Dai was a weak and unpopular leader who would do little to inspire peasant support, crush communist opponents or withstand a full-scale military attack.

American Solution = TWO VIETNAMS STRATEGY

1.  View the temporary division as permanent and support a non-communist South Vietnam.

2.  Find an effective leader to hold the South Vietnamese ‘Domino” in place. They chose Ngo Dinh Diem and ‘strongly encouraged’ Bao Dai to appoint him as Prime Minister while the Geneva Conference was still taking place!!

Focus Question for today – was supporting Diem a disaster for the United States?

Answer these questions in your book (pages 33-36)

1.  Why was Ngo Dinh Diem an ‘ideal’ choice?

2.  What promise did President Eisenhower make to Diem?

3.  What did the United States urge Diem to do?

4.  How did Diem actually use American aid money? (Green Box)

5.  How did Diem deal with his rival Bao Dai? (Until now Bao Dai was a potential political rival – after this point he is more like the Queen of England – a figurehead with no real power!)

6.  How did Diem’s brother (Ngo Dinh Nhu) and wife abuse their position as ‘First Family’?

7.  Why were Diem’s programmes on land reform, village leaders and fortified hamlets so unpopular with peasants?

8.  How many Viet Minh remained in the South after 1954?

9.  Describe Diem’s “Denunciation of the Communists” campaign.

10.  Read “Diem Isolated” and look at your answers to questions one and three. Explain whether you think that the Americans had chosen the right man for the job.