The Press MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1963. The Fall Of Diem

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30279, 4 November 1963, Page 12

The Press MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1963. The Fall Of Diem

Even the most violent critics of Mr Ngo Dinh Diem will hold their breath as they wait to see what happens next in Saigon. Dictatorial, arrogant, and intolerant he might have become, but he was the man ] to whom South Vietnam owed its independence; and no other figure of comparable stature save his dangerous brother, Mr Ngo Dinh Nhu, had appeared. Who will replace them? Can ; the friends of South Vietnam (including New Zealand) feel ready confidence in the conspirators who so summarily executed their president? On these anxious questions hangs the future of South-east Asia. Until the leaders of the new revolution establish themselves and show that they have some policy beyond getting rid of the Ngo brothers we shall not know the answer. In the meantime the world cannot be unmoved by the tragedy of Mr Diem, who eight years ago enjoyed the confidence and loyalty of the people he had led from Communist domination. For 30 years Mr Diem was a great political leader who could defy the French, the Japanese, and the Communists. At the end he could not defy his own people.

Mr Diem’s fate was probably sealed when the United States Government let it be known that a change of government would not be opposed. American public opinion had become increasingly hostile, but had itself

helped to create the crisis that (as Joseph Alsop says) transformed a courageous, skilful leader “into a man “ afflicted with persecution “ mania, seeing plots around “ every corner and therefore “ misjudging everything ”. In another article Alsop criticised those Americans who did not realise that “ Asian countries which “ have not fully emerged; “ into the modern world are “ even less well prepared for “ democracy than, let us say, “ Alabama ”. Mr Diem’s enemies were not only American liberals and disappointed Vietnamese politicians. The full story of the Buddhist monks has yet to be told; but their horrifying self-immolation stirred public opinion at home as well as abroad. Finally, the French Government had [ been displeased by Mr Diem’s rebuff to its campaign for uniting the two i Vietnams. The time was ] ripe for the conspirators, provided they could gain sufficient support from the army; and that should not have been difficult. The more insecure the regime felt, the greater its attempts to clamp political control on the armed services, with promotion by favour instead of by merit. Now a once-strong Government has fallen in bloodshed. The new Government has formidable tasks in restoring order and soothing passions that have become inflamed in the last few years, to say nothing of the task of preserving the integrity of the ] republic.