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CD) The Ngo family which dominated South
Vietnam had five influential brothers: Diem, the
president of South Vietnam; his older brother
Ngo Thinh Due who was the Roman Catholic primate
for all of Vietnam; Ngo Dinh Luyen, formerly
the Vietnamese ambassador to Great Britain;
Ngo Dinh Can, a reclusive and rapacious warlord
who hid in a special fortress in Hue protected by
his personal army; and Nhu, the head of all of
Vietnam's security forces. Since 1955, all of the
brothers had managed to turn segments of the
Vietnamese populace against themselves. (See
Chapter 2, pages 58-61, for summary of Diem's
internal opposition.)
(V) President Ngo Dinh Diem
approach which combined a policy of extensive
military and economic aid, and diplomatic "scoldings"
over his failure to implement substantive
reform of South Vietnam's political, economic,
and social structure.
CD) However, no matter how much aid and
blandishments were showered on him, Diem
remained a convinced nationalist and refused to
listen to American advice when it came to internal
political and security policies. Diem distrusted,
in turn, everyone outside of his family, as well
as those who were not Catholic. He was a man
who kept mostly to himself; as the internal situation
deteriorated over the years, he became even
more remote, disdaining advisors and relying on
the counsel of his family. His obduracy in the face
of American pleas to ease up on internal suppression
of critics and political opposition only exasperated
Washington. No one, it seemed could
penetrate Diem's closed circle.
CD) By mid-1963, the greatest source of opposition
to Diem now came from the Buddhists,
who made up close to 80 percent of the population.
Historically, the Buddhists in Vietnam had
been subjected to repressive and discriminatory
practices and legislation. The earliest emperors of
Vietnam had persecuted the Buddhists as a threat
to their Confucian authority. The French, favoring
their own native Catholic population, had
reduced Buddhism to a "private" practice, requiring
its followers to seek permission for public displays
and activities. Surprisingly, this legislation
had not been repealed when the French departed
and was the source of much of the friction
between the Buddhists and Diem's regime.
CD) The immediate spark which set off the
Buddhist demonstrations was an incident on 8
May 1963. Crowds of Buddhist priests and laymen
surrounded the government radio station in
Hue to protest Archbishop Ngo Thinh Thuc's
order forbidding them to carry the Buddhist flag
on the birthday of Buddha. The military broke up
the crowds 'with tear gas and gunfire, killing nine
and wounding twenty, including women and children.
Diem blamed the incident on Viet Cong agitation.
However, the Buddhists, determined to
oust Diem, organized a countrywide program of
demonstrations and protests. These were orchestrated
by Thich Tri Quang, a politically savvy and
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