South Vietnam, the Diem Regime, and America's Growing Commitment

Ngo Dinh Diem, a Catholic and staunch anticommunist appointed prime minister by Bao Dai in 1954, consolidated power through a controversial 1955 referendum that deposed Bao Dai and proclaimed the Republic of Vietnam. He built an authoritarian government centered on himself and his family, favored the Catholic minority in administrative and military posts, and implemented the "strategic hamlets" program, forcibly relocating rural populations to isolate them from communist influence — a program that, paradoxically, bred deep peasant resentment that fed recruitment into the communist insurgency. Repression against Buddhists intensified dramatically, and the public self-immolation of the monk Thich Quang Duc in June 1963 shocked international opinion. Diem was overthrown and assassinated in a November 1963 military coup, with the Kennedy administration having prior knowledge of the plot, ushering in a period of chronic political instability until Nguyen Van Thieu emerged as South Vietnam's relatively stable leader from 1965 until 1975.