THE DIEM REGIME

Scenario activity

Resources: John Wood, Vietnam and the Indochina conflict, Chapter 7, pp.

33-37.

The situation:

• After Geneva, the United States was determined to strengthen the non-communist South to prevent further expansion of communism in South-East Asia. To ensure that South Vietnam was not the next ‘domino’ to fall to communism, the United States had to select an appropriate ‘puppet’ leader for the South.

Task One:

Create a job description from United States officials advertising for an appropriate leader to rule in the South. Include the following:

– Political stance– Religious stance– Strengths required– Ability to work with the United States– Financial skills– Other?

Set it out as though it would appear in the newspaper and be creative in your wording but accurate in your detail.

Task Two:• Create a responding CV from Ngo Dinh Diem. This

should cover everything he achieved up until 1960. Include the following: (you will need to be creative in terms of time and suggest things that he would aim to do, as you are reading what he went on to do.)

• Personal details• Political views• Religious views• Positions held• Vision for South Vietnam• How he dealt with enemy groups• Achievements made eg in regard to elections, peasants,

the Viet Minh, the general state of South Vietnam• Family connections and their achievements• What other people have said about him• Other?

Task Three: Discussion points

• Why did the US choose Diem as their leader?

• What evidence supports the fact that Diem was corrupt?

• What groups of people did Diem offend? • Why did communist support in the south

rise under Diem’s rule?• Did Diem create a strong anti-

communist Domino in the South?

                                                           

Ngo Dinh Diem, the first elected President of the Republic of South Vietnam, in 1955.

                                                                                         The United States President Eisenhower greeted  South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem in Washington, 1956.

                                                         

President Ngo Dinh Diem and President Eisenhower in DC, 1956.

                                                        

President Diem with Ngo Dinh family, Phu Cam, Hue

                                          

President Ngo Dinh Diem at an open-air market.