In 1957, there was a
decision to not hold
national elections
which forced Ho Chi
Minh to concentrate
on consolidating
communist control in
his country
He did this to
start his
attempt to
reunify Vietnam
At the end of 1958,
the VWP Central
Committee
decided a strategy
that would reunify
Vietnam
The VWP party
was becoming
more and more
established, this
enabled Ho Chi
Minh to consider
a unification of
Communist
Vietnam more
fully
Vietnam aimed to
use military force to
overthrow Diem's
regime and remove
the presence of 'the
ruling power of the
imperialist and
feudalist forces'
The North
began to
support
Anti-Diem
groups in the
south, thus
leading to them
supporting the
NLF in South
Vietnam
North Vietnams VWP
(Vietnam worker's
party) attempted land
reform. The regime
seized privately owned
land and distributed it
among the rural
farming population
These landowners
were either executed
or publicly
denunciated or
imprisoned. In 1956,
the military intervened
and about 6000 people
were killed
In August 1956, Ho
Chi Minh was
forced to issue an
apology for the
land reform
programme.
About one
million refugees
fled North
Vietnam for the
South.
The North established a
complex support network
for the NLF (later became
known as the Ho Chi Minh
Trail) this provided
supplies to the South's
communists
President Kennedy's Policies Towards Indochina
Kennedy emphasised that ensuring that South
Vietnam remained a democracy was
fundamental importance in terms of securing the
democratic future of Southeast Asia as a whole
Kennedy was committed
to containment and was
fearful of the "domino
theory", the situation in
Vietnam was a perfect
example of the need for
containment.
Kennedy wanted to deal with
Korea in a way that didn't
involve nuclear weapons due
to him wanting to avoid a
nuclear war
Kennedy was scared
that this communist
threat in South
Vietnam would spread
to other parts of Asia.
Kennedy backed
counterinsurgency measures
delivered by conventional
ground forces. Vietnam was
described by General Maxwell
Taylor as a laboratory for
counterinsurgency tactics
In November 1961, Kennedy sent
General Taylor and Walt Roscow to
Vietnam to assess the situation,
they responded with:
An increase in
helicopter force
in Vietnam.
Great training for
the South
Vietnamese party
An increase
in the
numbers of
US combat
forces
Strategic
bombing
of North
Vietnam
Led to Kennedy
sending 10,000 troops
to Vietnam
Diem and
South
Vietnam
Diem was a
corrupt
leader. He
policies
were
divisive and
damaging
Diem gave his family
jobs in the
government, he gave
his brother prime
minister. He received
large amounts of US
economic aid that was
meant to be spent on
agricultural
improvements,
however he spent it
on himself and family
Diem ran a corrupt but
loyal government that
was heavily backed by
the USA and the
people of South Korea
disliked this
The
Formation
of the
National
Liberation
Front
In December 1960, the
North Vietnamese
leadership established
a new nationalist
organisation in South
Vietnam called the NLF
The NLF was politically
motivated and wanted to
reject Diem's imperialist
policies. He had embarked
on a campaign to remove
communism from South
Vietnam. He replaced local
councils with
government-appointed
officials (many of these
were catholics). This
angered the peasants
After the French war had
ended in 1954, there was
still a lot of Viet Minh
infrastructure in place. Ho
Chi Minh had beed
described as the spiritual
father of this movement,
he acted as an influence
on the formation and
character of the NLF.
These resistance veterans
were driven by
nationalism, they rejected
American Imperialism
The
Strategic
Hamlet
Program,
1962
Introduced
in March
1962 via
Operation
Sunrise
Aimed to create armed
stockades, which would
house South Vietnamese
rural peasants
it would isolate people
from the Vietcong. It
was a means of which
Diem and Nhu could
easily spread there
influence amongst the
farmers to challenge
the vietcong
The Peasants were angry as they were
forced into the Hamlets, By September
1962, the regime claimed that over 4
million were in the Hamlets, by the end
of 1962, there were over 3000 hamlets
It was a failure as it led to easy
recruitment for the Vietcong. Corrupt
officials took money meant for the
Hamlets which thus angered the
peasants more. The programme soon
collapsed
Buddhist Crisis
Diem was a
Roman
Catholic and
he favoured
that religion
His Brother (Ngo Dinh
Thuc) became Archbishop
of Hue after Diem lobbied
the Vatican on his behalf.
He then proceeded to
persecute the Buddhists
(the majority of Vietnam
was buddhist)
In May 1963, Buddhists were
banned from flying their flags in
honour of Buddha's birthday
whilst Catholics were encouraged
to display Papal flags as part of
celebrations for Thuc
The military stopped
the buddhists from
hearing a speech by
their leader, 9 people
were killed in the
protests
Buddhists organised hunger strikes
and rallies. They engaged with the US
press. Tri Quang tried to persuade
them to put pressure on Diem to carry
out reforms
The crisis for Diem deepened
when Buddhist monk, Quang Doc,
publicly burned himself alive.
Similar acts followed after
however Diem refused to do
anything
Assassination of
President Diem
In August 1963, Nhu organised an assault
on the buddhists. Henry Cabot Lodge (US
ambassador to South Vietnam) received a
telegram in which Lodge should explore a
new leadership for South Vietnam and
plan for a replacement leader.
On August
29th, Lodge
sent Kennedy a
message
saying that
Diem was a
problem
In late September, Kennedy sent
Robert McNamara and General Taylor
to Vietnam to see the problem. It was
clear that Diem was not prepared to
stop oppressing his people. They then
recommended less US Support and a
Coup against DIem
1 November 1963,
South Vietnamese
rebels led a fight
against Diem, the next
day Diem and Nhu
were assassinated.