Ngo Dinh Diem

Diem was the anticommunist leader of South Vietnam from after WW II until 1963. As the communist threat in North Vietnam rose, so did American support for him. Kennedy sent both “military advisors” and some $201 million dollars toward Diem’s South Korea in support. In this time, the strength of the Vietcong guerilla was growing, making more authoritative decisions come from Diem, such as the calling off of an election, which would have surely gone to the communist side, under Ho Chi Minh. Diem was corrupt, though, and particularly favored the Catholic population as opposed to the Buddhist and Maoist, gaining him general disfavor and dissent. Diem’s government disfavored the Buddhists, and in 1963, there was a crisis in Siagon involving the harassment of Buddhists by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. On May 8th, the ARVN fired on protesting Buddhists, leading to the famous protesting monk who burned himself alive.