State visit by Ngo Dinh Diem to the United States

(pictured) organized political support for Diệm among Catholics and Americans. In 1933, Diệm had been the Interior Minister of Vietnam, serving under Emperor Bảo Đại. However, he resigned after a few months because the French colonial authorities would not give Vietnam any meaningful autonomy, and became a private citizen for the next decade. During World War II, Imperial Japan attacked Indochina and wrested control from France, but when they were defeated by the Allies in 1945, a power vacuum emerged. The communist-dominated Viet Minh of Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and fought for independence, while the French attempted to regain control of their colony, and created the State of Vietnam under Bảo Đại, which was an associated free state within the French Union. A staunch anti-communist nationalist, Diệm opposed both and attempted to create his own movement, with little success. With both the French and the communists hostile to him, Diệm felt unsafe and went into self-imposed exile in 1950, leaving Vietnam for the first time in his life. He did so as the communists had sentenced him to death in absentia, while the French refused to give him protection, claiming that they had no resources. Diệm spent most of the next four years in the United States and Europe enlisting support, particularly among fellow Catholic politicians in America and Vatican officials. Diệm's success with the latter group was helped by the fact that his elder brother Ngô Đình Thục was the leading Catholic cleric in Vietnam and had studied with high-ranking priests in Rome. Diệm had a chance meeting with Wesley Fishel, a political science professor from America during a stopover in Japan. A proponent of the "third force" ideology that opposed communism and colonialism, Fishel quickly befriended Diệm. The American academic organized contacts for Diệm in the US, and he was given an audience with the Acting US Secretary of State James Webb. Diệm made little impression in the first meeting, but continued to meet with lower ranking officials. Thuc introduced his younger brother to Cardinal Francis Spellman, the most politically powerful priest of his time and former classmate of Thuc. Later, Diệm was given a meeting with Pope Pius XII. In early 1951, Diệm was given an audience with US Secretary of State Dean Acheson. The success of his presentation to Acheson prompted Diệm to stay in the US to campaign, basing himself at Spellman's seminary in New Jersey. Diệm travelled across the nation, speaking at universities, and he was given a faculty position at Fishel's institution, the Michigan State University. Diệm then gained the support of US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and Senators John McCormack, Mike Mansfield and John F. Kennedy. McCormack later became the Senate Majority Leader, while Mansfield—a Democrat from Montana—had been a professor of Asian history before entering politics; as a result his opinions about Vietnam were more influential and held in high regard by his fellow senators. In 1954, the French lost the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference was held to determine the future of Indochina. The Viet Minh were given control of North Vietnam, while the State of Vietnam controlled the territory south of the 17th parallel. The Geneva agreements, which the State of Vietnam did not sign, called for reunification elections to be held in 1956. Bảo Đại appointed Diệm as his Prime Minister, hoping Diệm would be able to attract American aid as the French withdrew from Southeast Asia. Diệm returned to Vietnam in June 1954 and took up the post on July 7, 1954. After a series of disagreements, Diệm deposed Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum on October 23, 1955, and declared himself president of the newly-proclaimed Republic of Vietnam three days later. Diệm received support from the US and other anti-communist countries in the midst of the Cold War. He refused to hold national reunification elections scheduled in 1956, and asserted that Ho would rig the ballots in the north, although he had done so himself in deposing Bảo Đại. In the meantime, Diệm continued to consolidate his rule and stabilize his new nation. == Preparation ==

Diệm's trip came after two years of American attempts to schedule a state visit. In 1955, Washington made two attempts to organise a trip while Diệm was still prime minister, but he was too busy quelling opposition groups and his grip on power was tenuous. Diệm addressed these issues by crushing the Bình Xuyên organised crime syndicate in the Battle of Saigon in May 1955, and then deposed Bảo Đại and proclaimed the Republic of Vietnam after his brother Ngô Đình Nhu rigged a referendum that made him head of state. Diệm was credited with 98.2% of the votes cast, with a 133% margin of victory in the capital of Saigon. The South Vietnamese leader's visit was organized after he indicated interest in February 1957 to US Ambassador to South Vietnam G. Frederick Reinhardt. The Eisenhower administration prepared for Diệm's arrival in great detail. A memorandum from the Office of Protocol (OP) of the State Department gave its personnel detailed information on ceremonial intricacies, such as the correct pronunciation of Diệm's name. It went further in briefing staff on the toasting procedure. The OP warned that Diệm could be "both intransigent and almost brutal in pursuing and applying policies he has decided upon, and ... has a violent temper." in 1955, Nhu's agents had beaten those who voted for Bảo Đại instead of Diệm. The media prepared for Diệm's arrival by writing about and praising him in great detail. The Washington Post devoted four pages to its profile of Diệm and titled it "Diệm—Symbol of Free New Asia." The Washington Evening Star ran the headline "Welcome to a Champion" and described Diệm as "a valiant and effective fighter against communism." Various papers favourably commented on Diệm's overt opposition to communism, juxtaposing it to the position of non-aligned Asian leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Sukarno of Indonesia. Nehru and Sukarno attempted to steer clear of both the US-led anti-communist world and the Soviet bloc, and sought to recruit other countries into their movement. The newspapers compared South Vietnam to a beacon of light in a dark sea of communism. == Visit ==

Diệm arrived at noon on May 8 at the National Airport in Washington, D.C., aboard the plane of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Nathan Twining personally received him at the airport; On the day of his arrival, The New York Times editorialized that "President Diệm ... is a substantial partner in a going enterprise on behalf of free men in his country and in ours. We honor him and make him doubly welcome on that account." Washington D. C. The next day, Diệm addressed a joint sitting of the United States Congress, with both the House of Representatives and the Senate in attendance. Both major parties lavished Diệm with praise. Senator Mansfield said, "The chief credit for holding back the communist aggression not only in Vietnam, but, because of that, in Southeast Asia as well, lies in the determination, the courage, the incorruptibility, and the integrity of President Diệm, who has shown such great ability and has accomplished so much against tremendous odds." Senator Jacob Javits, a Republican from New York, dubbed Diệm "one of the real heroes of the free world." President Eisenhower said, "President Ngô Đình Diệm stands for the highest qualities of heroism and statesmanship ... The president of Vietnam, by his inspiring leadership, is opening up vast new areas for the peaceful progress of mankind." In a nationally-televised speech, Secretary of State Dulles said, "I am very much impressed by Prime Minister Diệm. He is a true patriot and dedicated to independence," referring to his defeat of the Bình Xuyên in the 1955 Battle for Saigon. The Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs Walter Robertson said, "Asia has given us in President Diệm another great figure, and the entire Free World has become the richer for his example of determination and moral fortitude." On his third day in Washington, Diệm was the keynote speaker and guest at a National Press Club lunch. He attacked Asian leaders who advocated neutralism, saying that "Since communism is not neutral, we cannot be neutral." Diệm went on to answer a question about his religious convictions by declaring his adherence to Catholicism and saying, "I have always found the principles of my religion a great inspiration, and, if I have achieved anything in my political career, I owe it all to those principles." His comments were widely trumpeted in Catholic newspapers, which cited them as the reason why he was able to stop a communist takeover of South Vietnam. talked endlessly, and as a result the American diplomats were unable to raise whatever issues they had wanted to discuss. Diệm felt that the cloud cover over Indochina would make it difficult for air bombings against communist guerrillas to be effective. He predicted that the communists would try to enter South Vietnam through Laos, Diệm asked the US for a guarantee of continuing aid; at the time, two-thirds of South Vietnam's budget came from the CIP, which was mainly abused by the urban elite to buy consumer goods. Diệm knew that the Eisenhower administration and Congress wanted to make budget savings and implored them to refrain from cutting the CIP expenditure, fearing a deterioration in the Vietnamese economy. Eisenhower said that Vietnamese security was ensured by the South East Asian Treaty Organization, but Diệm remained anxious, believing that the other member states were too weak and lacking in resources to stand by their pledges to defend his country. Upon Diệm's departure from the capital, the White House released a statement praising "the remarkable achievements of the Republic of Viet-Nam under his leadership." Diệm was given a strongly supportive reception by the seminarians. Around 250,000 people cheered him during the parade. In turn, Diệm praised New York City at a lunch hosted by Wagner in his honor, The day after, Diệm attended mass with Spellman and was the guest of honor at a business lunch hosted by the Far East-America Council of Commerce and Industry at the Waldorf Astoria. Diệm promoted South Vietnam as a business opportunity for American entrepreneurs, saying that the populace was pro-American, unlike other countries, and that they welcomed foreign investment. Diệm then visited Tennessee before stopping at Los Angeles for a banquet hosted by the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. The reason for the visit was to discuss Diệm's concerns over America's reaction if South Vietnam came under communist attack. Stump reiterated Washington's opinions that nuclear weapons would be used to defend any anti-communist country that was attacked by communists, in accordance with public statements made by Eisenhower and Dulles. He said the Americans would do so by dropping nuclear weapons on communist China. == Aftermath ==

The visit to the US was the high point in Diệm's relations with his primary sponsor. The Americans began to place increasing pressure on Diệm to carry out democratic reforms and liberalize the political system, particularly during the ambassadorship of Elbridge Durbrow. Diệm, however, resisted the calls to broaden the base of his government and continued to rig elections. Meanwhile, in the US, his support among the AFV also declined, in part due to his ongoing authoritarianism and also because of his persistent complaints to them about negative media depictions of his regime; many Vietnamese leaders of various persuasions did not understand that Western governments did not control their own media. Pressure also increased on Diệm at home, as the communists intensified their insurgency against him. In November 1960, discontent in his own army prompted a failed coup attempt by paratroopers. Although Diệm eventually organized for loyalists to put down the coup, he was angered by Durbrow's calls for him to try to negotiate a settlement, regarding the lack of support for his zero tolerance policy as a betrayal. In 1963, mass civil disobedience broke out due to discontent from the Buddhist majority over Diệm's discrimination against them, sparked by the fatal shootings of nine people who were demonstrating against the ban on the Buddhist flag. The US began to lose confidence in Diệm's ability to run the country effectively and prevent the growth of the communist insurgency, and concluded that he was an obstacle to religious and thus national stability. During this time, the American press corps wrote unvarnished stories about the South Vietnamese government's policies and actions, in contrast to the supportive pieces of the 1950s, and Diệm's attempts to physically intimidate correspondents backfired. After Diệm tried to settle the Buddhist crisis by launching synchronized raids on Buddhist temples across the country to round up those monks who were leading protests against him, the Americans began to look for alternative leadership, sending Cable 243 to their embassy in Saigon to authorise the search for someone to replace Diệm. In November 1963, Diệm was overthrown in a US-backed coup and he and Nhu were captured and executed. ==See also==