Diem's Government

• Diem was appointed by America.
• Diem forced peasants off their land to give their land to powerful families.
• Diem introduced new taxes
• Diem appointed his family members and friends to important roles, this is called nepotism.
• Diem held his own elections in South Vietnam in 1955, and 'won' by 98.2% of the vote. He used his army and supporters to intimidate voters to ensure more votes. The Americans were aware of this and tried to persuade Diem to say he won with 70% of the vote, but he refused.
• The NLF (National Liberation Front) was a peasant group who wished to overthrow Diem. They first targeted Diem's officials and 100s of government workers were murdered. Later Ho Chi Minh encouraged them to fight the south Vietnamese army. The NLF are better known as the Viet Cong.
• Buddhism was the majority religion in Vietnam. They were concerned as Diem kept implementing anti-Buddhist policies.
• When a group of Buddhists flew the flag in a celebration, troops open fired and killed 9 Buddhists.
• Buddhists opposed Diem with hunger strikes, mass rallies, and self-immolation (burning yourself).
• Self-immolation is a very symbolic act of rebellion.
• In 1957 a civil war in South Vietnam broke out between the Viet Cong and the ARVN. The Viet Cong were funded and supplied by Ho Chi Minh and equipment was smuggled in for them via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
• The ARVN were funded by the USA. In fact the USA gave $1.6 billion to the ARVN throughout the 1950s to train them and give them equipment and for a propaganda campaign.
• ARVN propaganda claimed the Vietminh killed children.
• In 1961 JFK is president.
• By 1961, Diem was very unpopular.
• On the 1st of November 1963, Diem faced another coup. JFK had withdrawn his protection. Diem and his brother were surrounded by ARVN troops, they surrendered, were taken away, and were shot dead.