Ngo Dinh Diem

Ngô Đình Diệm Jean Baptiste (???, approximately pronounced "Ngoh Din Yim"{{Audio|NgoDinhDiem.ogg|listen}}) (January 3, 1901 – November 2, 1963) was the first President of the Republic of Vietnam (1955–63). It is worth noting that according to the namings of Diệm's relatives, the family name for Diệm appears to be Ngô Đình, instead of the conventional Ngô. Ngô Đình Diệm was unmarried; thus his sister-in-law, Madame Nhu, was regarded as the First Lady of South Vietnam.

Rise to power

Diệm was born in Huế, the original capital of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam. The Ngô family is a Catholic family in Vietnam. He was a civil servant in the government of Emperor Bảo Đại before World War II but resigned after accusing the Emperor of being a "tool" of the French. He was a strongly anti-Buddhist nationalist and anti-Communist; his elder brother, Ngô ?ình Thuc, was the archbishop of Hue.

Related Topics:
Huế - Nguyễn Dynasty - Vietnam - Catholic - Civil servant - Bảo Đại - World War II - Nationalist - Anti-Communist - Ngô ?ình Thuc

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In 1945 he was imprisoned and exiled to China following conflicts with anti-French Communist forces that were gaining power in Vietnam. After his release, he refused to join in the brief post-war government of Ho Chi Minh and went into exile in the United States. He returned to be appointed Prime Minister of South Vietnam by Emperor Bao Dai in 1954, following the French withdrawal. He rejected the Geneva Accord (which called for unification and elections in 1956); on October 26, 1955, in a disputed nationwide referendum, the nation's Catholics voted to remove the Emperor Bao Dai as head of state and Diem made himself the first President of the Republic of Vietnam.

Related Topics:
1945 - China - French - Communist - Ho Chi Minh - United States - 1954 - Geneva Accord - 1956 - October 26 - 1955

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When the referendum was held, Diệm's troops guarded the polls and those who attempted to vote for the Emperor were assaulted. Diệm's detractors say that the fraud was obvious. In Saigon, for example, Diệm claimed more votes than there were registered voters in the entire area. Emperor Bao Dai was forced to abdicate rather than divide the country further and issued one last appeal for the country to unite under a democratic government. Diệm's American advisors were frustrated by this, as no one believed the long-absent former monarch could have posed much of a popular threat from his chateaux in France.

Related Topics:
Fraud - Saigon - Democratic

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Diệm's rule was firm, puritanical and nepotistic. His most trusted official was his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, leader of the primary pro-Diệm political party. His brother's wife Madame Nhu was South Vietnam's First Lady and she led the way in Diệm's programs to reform Saigon society according to his own Catholic values. Brothels and opium dens were closed, divorce and abortion made illegal, and adultery laws were strengthened. State police were accused of assaulting Buddhists (the religious majority in the country). Diệm also won a street war with the forces of the gangster Le Van Vien, the notorious ruler of the Cholon brothels and gambling houses who had enjoyed special favors under the French and Bao Dai. Diệm was also passionately anti-Communist and many attribute rising sympathy for the PAVN-backed National Liberation Front (more commonly known as the Viet Cong) to his rule.

Related Topics:
Puritanical - Nepotistic - Ngo Dinh Nhu - Madame Nhu - First Lady - Catholic - Brothel - Opium - Le Van Vien - PAVN - National Liberation Front - Viet Cong

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A member of the Catholic Vietnamese minority, Diem pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized Buddhist groups to the extent that Buddhist activists staged mass protests (and even self-immolations) which triggered several coups attempts, the final one resulting in Diệm's own execution. Viewed as a dictator by his opponents domestically and abroad, who blame Diệm for a nepotistic and hardline desire to maintain power which led his country into a dangerous relationship with the United States, and to a ruinous civil war, Diệm nonetheless has his proponents who credit him with suppressing the Buddhist majority who were asking for equal treatments from the Catholic government of South Vietnam's first republic. In Buddhist-led protests in Hue after a major Buddhist holiday was canceled by the government, Diem and his bishop brother ordered tanks to graze Buddhist temples and run over unarmed Buddhist protesters.

Related Topics:
Catholic Vietnamese - Self-immolation

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