As a Vietnamese, I fully agree with the US's involvement in Vietnam.

saigonforever said:
He was not doomed from the start, most legal documents and public opinion affirmed this idea. Ngo Dinh Diem was no different than Ho Chi Minh, they were both respected Vietnamese nationalists, the only reason why one will hear from the latter is because that side won (insert Communist propaganda and brainwashing here). The thing is that Ngo Dinh Diem did not believe in communist revolution to achieve Vietnamese independence, further more, republicanism was already an ideology just as novel as socialism that was to take root when Vietnam was split in 1954 at the Geneva Accords.

I cannnot explain the entirety of Diem's presidency in one schlog post but I suggest searching up: "The Lost Mandate of Heaven: The American Betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam" that thoroughly and truthfully explains the politics of a stauchly anti-communist, devout Catholic, and Vietnamese nationalist Diem, who at times, did not listen to Washington out of agitation of their insistence in South Vietnamese internal affairs. Most importantly, he was not a mere lackey of the Americans, but this would be unfortunately the fact that cost him his life when the CIA allowed the military to assassinate him in 1963. Just like South Korea, if they had zero military assistance, then they would easily crumble to Pyongyang in days because the heavy industry was in the North. The same applied to Vietnam, as Hanoi was the capital and heart of Vietnamese industry. South Vietnam was born out of war, and it needed a strong leader in order to train the young country's armed forces and eventually stabilize the new Republic. Democratization could come later, as it did in Taiwan or South Korea, winning the war was the most important. Those who bash the South Vietnamese government for not democratizing fast enough are hypocrites: did the North have any elections close to what the South had? The answer is a resounding no (even today as well!). Ngo Dinh Diem would have easily served as a strong leader like Park-Cheung Hee of Korea, and even Park had went many attempted assassinations. If HE was successfully killed, South Korea would not be where it is today. So to answer your question, Diem couldve won the war as most governments (with the minor exception of Thieu, though even HE was not as competent as Diem, but very worthy of respect for his effort) after his death were worried about coups rather that the VC insurgency, but American assisstance was also very integral to the war plan.
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Wordswordswords (but I did read all of it)
 
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