Ngo Dinh Diem :: South Vietnam

â€Å"Diem was the kind of asian we can live with,† said a Supreme court Justice Member (Conflict). The Diem family was a powerful family due to the fact that Ngo Dinh Diem was the prime minister of South Vietnam in 1954. Diem grew up in the same region as the person he was going against. Diem grew up as strong catholic member. He led vietnam with a strong sense of anti-communism (Vietnam War). Diem was a powerful ruler who rose to power in South Vietnam, then fell harshly from his position after his corruption. The corruption ended up getting him killed by his own country's generals. Diem rose to power quickly mainly due to America favoring him. America had many reasons to favor him. Diem grew up in a higher class family and received a decent education. As a smart kid, he studied law at a Vietnamese university, after he declined a scholarship in France (Conflict). Diem was the best pick of the remaining potential leaders that weren't dead or joined the enemy and communism (Vietnam War). The biggest reason America favored Diem was because he was strongly anti-communist. Diem was also catholic, along with many Americans (Conflict). In 1933, Diem was dismissed from office because the French did not like him. He wanted Vietnamese independence, and France had lost their patience with him. Until 1950, Diem did nothing eventful. He focused on religion and things that he enjoyed doing. Then in 1950, he fled Vietnam due to the Viet Minh coming after him. He showed up one year later in America. There, he did what is called ‘networking’. He met with important people, increasing his popularity in the states. At the Geneva conference, U.S. had mentioned Diem as a potential leader. â€Å"The only boy we got out there† (Conflict). French had disagreed, but later decided he was the lesser of the evils (Ngo Dinh Diem). They held a vote in the country to elect a prime minister. It was between Diem and Bao Dai, the former emperor. The election was most likely rigged, as he won with 98% of the votes. This was just the start of his corruption (Conflict, Ngo Dinh Diem). Diem was always a person who was uneasy about changes that were requested of him. He ended up making changes to the land in South Vietnam even though he did not want to.