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Ngo Dinh Diem Was The Main Cause Of The Vietnam War

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Another cause of the Vietnam war was the political demise of the Southern Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem Ngo. Diem was an ally of the Americans and because of his close relations to such an influential country, Americans helped him all throughout his political career. Diem became the Prime Minister of South Vietnam through a rigged election on October 26, 1956. While in power Diem practised personalism and nepotism which meant the people surrounding him in parliament would support him no matter what he decided to do. In 1962, Diem forced 30% of the South Vietnamese villagers into Hamlets, separating them from their families and friends and causing disruption to their way of life. The villagers were forced to build 4000 hamlets and were unable to leave said hamlets unless they were working in the fields.In May 1964, Diem introduced a law that made it illegal to fly any flag aside from the South Vietnamese flag or the Catholic flag which sparked outrage among the villagers who happened to be 95% Buddhists.On May 8, 1963, buddhists gathered at the pagoda Dieu De to welcome the Buddha's birthday and raised Buddhist flags as part of the celebration. …show more content…

Three days later, a 66 year old Buddhist Monk named Thích Quảng Đức burnt himself alive in Saigon as a protest against Diem's anti-Buddhism proven in his last recorded letter, quoting "I respectfully plead to President Ngo Dinh Diem to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally."; 6 more Buddhists would imitate his actions to help in the protest.

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