a- Assessment of the Vietnam War on the Nationalist side:

Chapter II Assessment of the War


a- Assessment of the Vietnam War on the Nationalist side:
The following is the assessment of the Reality of the Vietnam War by each historical figure:
1-Emperor Bao Dai: (1913-1997)

Bao Dai 1913-1997
Brief biography:
Real name Nguyen Phuc Vinh Thuy
Born January 1, 1913
in Hue, Vietnam

Died July 31, 1997
in Paris, France

Reigned 1925 - 1945

Nguyen Dynasty

Reign Bao Dai (1926 - 1945)

Notes The last king of the Nguyen Dynasty.
To understand Bao Dai's views on the Vietnam War, we should read the two books most related to Bao Dai, "BAO DAI, OR THE LAST DAYS OF THE KINGDOM OF AN NAM" and the memoir "The Dragon of Vietnam".
The context at that time in Vietnam (1945): France was weak, handed over power to Japan to rule Vietnam, Japan lost the war to the Allied forces, Vietnam at that time was almost without government, Viet Minh took advantage of the opportunity to seize power (noun used by the Communists):
There are documents stating that on August 19, 1945, Emperor Bao Dai refused to attack Viet Minh because he was worried about a civil war between Vietnamese people. The Japanese side received instructions from the Allies to protect security and order for the people, so they sent a colonel to meet the king to suppress the Viet Minh riot.
King Bao Dai told the Japanese: "I absolutely refuse your protection. I order you to immediately withdraw those activities. I do not want a foreign army to bleed my people"
(in Le Dragon d'Annnam, Bao Dai's diary, page 117). Unfortunately, that noble gesture of Bao Dai was exploited by Ho Chi Minh to serve the needs of International Communism. Ho's intention was not to bring Freedom and Independence to Vietnam but to impose foreign Communism on the heads of all Vietnamese people!!!
King Bao Dai's historical responsibility at this stage before the wrong decision to hand over power to Ho is not small! (Vietnamese History Research, page 1996). Just over 7 months later, on March 16, 1946, Bao Dai understood Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party so he found a way to visit China, in reality, to escape the Communist regime!
“Ho Chi Minh (1890?-1969) and the Viet Minh Front immediately took advantage of the opportunity and quickly seized power in Hanoi on August 19. The Japanese ambassador in Hue, Yokoyama, visited King Bao Dai and asked to send Japanese forces in Indochina (still intact) to crush the Viet Minh coup, but King Bao Dai refused because he feared a civil war due to foreign exploitation. King Bao Dai announced his abdication on August 25 and the Tran Trong Kim government was dissolved.”
King Bao Dai (1913-1997) was the last emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty and also the last king of Vietnam. On August 25, 1945, he abdicated with the historic statement:
"To consolidate the Independence of the country and protect the interests of the People. I am ready to sacrifice in all aspects. I put the happiness of the Vietnamese people above my throne. I would rather be a citizen of an independent country than a king of a ruled country."
Commenting on this event shows that at that time Bao Dai was not too afraid of the Viet Minh forces, because at that time the VM force in Hanoi was only 30 people with 17 pistols. (VSKL volume 4 page 1993).
Later, he was invited by Ho Chi Minh to be the supreme advisor to the coalition government with Catholic bishop Le Huu Tu. But soon, realizing the intention of Mr. Ho and his faction to unite Vietnam, he stopped cooperating. In 1949, at the request of some national politicians, Bao Dai returned to politics as head of state until October 23, 1955, when he was deposed through a "Referendum". He continued to live in exile in France until his death on July 31, 1997. King
Bao Dai understood the Vietnamese Communist Party well. After handing over power to Ho Chi Minh in 1945, he also understood that Ho Chi Minh was a member of the Communist International and had no true patriotism. During the war from 1945 to 1975, Ho only carried out the directives of the International Communist Party to attack the South, causing fratricidal violence. In his memoir "Con Rong Viet Nam", he clearly recorded the actions of Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, who later brought about the Referendum to depose him. However, he commented very impartially and condemned the Vietnamese Communist Party for stirring up trouble and causing damage. for the Country and the People:
"Question: Why did you give power to Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem so that he could overthrow you?"
King Bao Dai also immediately answered:
"Mr. Diem was someone I trusted. At that time, the French power had failed. The Communist side had been actively supported by the Soviet Union in all aspects, so I advised Mr. Diem to seek support from the United States to be able to stop (endiguer) the expansion of Communism. His overthrow of me was due to political pressure. Mr. Diem was a PATRIOT, when he gave power, I asked him to commit to me two things before the altar of God, because he was very religious, that he must maintain the South, and if he could not fulfill that mission, he must return power to me. But then he DIED WHILE PERFORMING HIS MISSION. Anyway, he tried to keep those commitments but could not."
Perhaps because he had been a head of state and had had to deal with the Communists, had experience with the communists' methods of stirring up trouble, and moreover believed that Ngo Dinh Diem was a patriot who loved his people, Bao Dai did not believe that Diem could persecute Buddhism. In his memoirs, he wrote:
"Everything was moving forward, then the government (Ngo Dinh Diem) encountered opposition from the monks. Mr. Diem and Nhu were Catholics. The monks, manipulated by the communists and assisted by the American secret service, immediately began to act. The government had to respond. It was as if they were unconsciously carrying a sense of religious discrimination... Who incited them to cause chaos? Where did they come from? How do we know if they came from Hanoi or from Beijing?..."
In the book "Con Rong Viet Nam", a memoir of King Bao Dai, published by Nguyen Phuoc Toc in 1990, in Paris, page 187, in August 1945, in response to the Viet Minh's call for abdication, King Bao Dai said verbatim:
"I ask the new government to treat with brotherhood the parties, factions, and organizations that fought for the country's independence, even though they did not follow the same democratic direction of the front, so that they could participate in the construction of the country. country, and demonstrate that the new regime has been built on the resolute solidarity of the entire people.”
“For the happiness of the Vietnamese people,
“For the independence of Vietnam,
“To achieve these two goals, I declare that I am ready to sacrifice everything, and I hope that my sacrifice will benefit the Fatherland.
“Recognizing that the solidarity of all our compatriots at this moment is a necessity for our Fatherland, on August 3, I reminded all our people: At this decisive moment of History, unity means life, and division means death.
"With the momentum of democracy being promoted in the North of our country, I am afraid that a conflict between the North and the South will be difficult to avoid if I wait until after the referendum to decide to abdicate. I understand that if there is such a conflict, bringing the whole country into painful chaos, it will only benefit the invaders."
In the above statements, Bao Dai did not clearly state what form the conflict would take, but it is clear that he wanted to talk about conflicts with guns and bullets, because he used the phrase: "bringing the whole country into painful chaos" and considered this a civil war "beneficial to the invaders". King Bao Dai also advised the Ho Chi Minh government to use brotherhood to treat parties and factions that differed from the direction of the Viet Minh Front, but later Ho and his faction tried to massacre parties and innocent civilians who refused to comply with the policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam, at the same time they created a bloody civil war that lasted for 30 years in the country. miserable Vietnam! At the same time, Bao Dai also clearly saw the ambition of the Communist Party of Vietnam using the trick of dividing religions to cause a painful war for the whole nation! Including the mistakes of some religious leaders: Buddhism, Catholicism, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, etc., who were unpaid lackeys of the Communist Party of Vietnam!
Through the memoir "Con Rong Viet Nam" of King Bao Dai, we can temporarily conclude his assessment of the Vietnam War 1945-1975 as follows:
1- In 1945, Bao Dai was willing to give up the throne to the Viet Minh to unify the country and unite the people to fight against foreign invaders, not accepting civil war and fratricidal war. King Bao Dai called on the communists to treat parties and factions with brotherhood, but the Vietnamese communists always applied the directive of the international communists to destroy the anti-"revolutionary" class and destroy religions, so a few months later he understood Ho's ambition to destroy the Nationalist parties that were collaborating with the Viet Minh to expel the French colonialists. He saw the cruelty of the Vietnamese communists towards religions and parties, so he withdrew from being an honorary advisor in the Ho Chi Minh government, and at the same time tried to find someone with a true patriotic heart to take over the government. He concluded: "The fratricidalization of Vietnam, causing the civil war from 1945-1954 was only because the Vietnamese communists received instructions from the international communists".
2- In 1954, after the Geneva armistice agreement divided the North and South according to the policy of the Vietnamese Communist Party and the International Communist Party, which went against the wishes of all Vietnamese people, he twice urgently invited Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem to give him the right to establish a National government to fight against the invasion of the North Vietnamese Communist Party. At this time, it was no longer a civil war but an invasion of a sovereign country with an independent government and army recognized by the international community (but at that time, both the South and North of Vietnam had not yet joined the United Nations).
3- The later upheavals in Vietnam (1954-1963) Although living in exile in France, former Emperor Bao Dai also clearly stated that the 1945-1954 war carried out by the Vietnamese Communist Party was a Civil War and the war after 1954 was an invasion by the Vietnamese Communist Party receiving instructions from Russia and China. The upheavals and mutual killings were all initiated by the Communist Party.
4- However, his life, influenced by French advisors, was somewhat heavy on material enjoyment, considering himself a monarch according to the feudal concept that subjects must serve the king, so his contribution to the nation was not much, compared to the position he had.


2- President Ngo Dinh Diem:


Ngo Dinh Diem 1901-1963.
http://www.vnfa.com/ct/un_hongo.html
Life and Career of the late President Ngo Dinh Diem
I.- 1901-1933
President Ngo Dinh Diem was born on January 3, 1901 in Hue, the third son of a family of 6 boys and 2 girls. His two older brothers, Mr. Ngo Dinh Khoi, was assassinated by the Viet Minh in 1945 while serving as Governor of Quang Nam province and Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc. His three younger brothers were Ngo Dinh Nhu, Ngo Dinh Luyen and Ngo Dinh Can; his two younger sisters were Mrs. Am and Mrs. Le.
President Diem's ​​father was his great-grandfather Ngo Dinh Kha, originally from Dai Phong village, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province. His great-grandfather was a famous scholar, who had served as a Minister, teacher and advisor to King Thanh Thai.
Because he was trained in a Confucian family, under the guidance of his great-grandfather and his mentor, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Nguyen Huu Bai; in the spirit of Catholicism in harmony with the philosophy of Confucius and Mencius, Mr. Diem absorbed special characteristics: steadfast, honest, brave, upright, generous, indomitable, self-sacrificing for the people and the country, living for the people and dying for the country.
Just over 20 years old, for the majority of the masses it was the year they had just taken their first steps into life, at that age, he was appointed by the royal court as the District Chief of Hai Lang, Quang Tri province.
At the age of 30, he was promoted to Governor of Phan Rang and Phan Thiet provinces. He became famous for knowing how to use his authority to defend the rights of the people, especially the poor, and courageously taking actions against the tax collection and exploitation of the French colonialists.
At the age of 32, he was invited by the court to hold the position of Minister of Lai and Secretary of the Vietnam-France Joint Committee consisting of Ministers and high-ranking French officials. This Committee was responsible for researching and implementing treaties to help improve the lives of the people.
However, after 4 months, he resigned because he realized that the colonialists' ambition was never to properly implement the treaties, but also blatantly rejected his reasonable proposals and increased the suppression of organizations with new tendencies.
II.- 1933-1954
After resigning from office, he returned to teach at Providence School in Hue and from that time on, he secretly organized the Revolutionary movement against the French colonialists. He contacted veteran revolutionaries such as Phan Boi Chau, Huynh Thuc Khang and Ky Ngoai Hau Cuong De to learn more experiences.
It was Mr. Phan Sao Nam who admired Mr. Diem as a great hero who, at the age of just over 30, fought against the colonialists for the people and the country, regardless of fame and wealth.
His movement, which originated in Hue and spread to most of the Central provinces, was watched and scrutinized by the French. In 1944, the French colonialists raided his movement, but he quickly escaped to Ai Lao, because he was informed by a trusted person.
In March 1945, Japan overthrew the French government in Indochina. Bao Dai declared Vietnam's Independence. The whole people were happy and expected patriot Ngo Dinh Diem to form a Cabinet. But after being invited many times by the Japanese Ambassador, he still did not accept because he learned that neither the Japanese militarists nor the French colonialists wanted Vietnam's independence, but only needed him to be their puppet.
At the end of 1945, while traveling from Saigon to the Central region, Mr. Diem was captured by the Viet Minh in Tuy Hoa, taken to the North and imprisoned for more than 4 months in Tuyen Quang. In February 1946, Ho Chi Minh saw that many people had identified the Viet Minh as Communists in disguise, so he wanted to invite prisoner Ngo Dinh Diem to join the government as a front.
Ho Chi Minh thought he would face a completely demoralized person, ready to submit, but unexpectedly he encountered a brave and indomitable person who dared to speak directly to his face:
"You and I have completely opposite views about the Vietnamese people, the actions of your subordinates have proven that. Please answer me why you harmed my brother (Ngo Dinh Khoi) and look straight into my eyes to see if I am the type of person who is afraid of you?"
Ho Chi Minh was unsuccessful in persuading him so he reluctantly let Mr. Diem leave.
In 1950, on the occasion of going abroad to attend the Holy Year, Mr. Diem was introduced by Father Houssa to the United States, staying at the Maryknoll Monastery, Lakewood, TB, New Jersey. Here, Mr. Diem was invited to many famous American universities to give speeches and gained much sympathy and reputation with American politicians and people.
In early 1953, Mr. Diem was invited by his confidants to return to France to prepare for politics. At that time, the French government was confused about the Indochina issue, and the people were starting to get fed up with the war. In Vietnam, the situation was getting more and more tense, because the Soviet Union and Communist China massively supported the Viet Minh with weapons to attack the Viet Bac areas and had occupied the Cao Bac Lang area as a base.
The French government sent General Navarre to the Indochina battlefield in the hope of saving the situation. On November 29, 1953, Colonel De Castries was nominated to command the Dien Bien Phu battle. The purpose of France sending troops into the Dien Bien valley was to lure the communists to appear so that they could use strategic weapons to destroy the enemy as well as to block the supply route from Laos and Communist China.
In early 1954, Mr. Buu Hoi was invited to form a transitional coalition government to replace Nguyen Van Tam, but the army was still controlled by Nguyen Van Hinh.
On February 3, 1954, the battle of Dien Bien Phu began. General Navarre's estimates were all wrong and - the stick hit him in the back. 12,000 French troops were surrounded on all sides by 51,000 communist troops. On May 7, 1954, Dien Bien Phu fell, resulting in 10,000 French troops being taken prisoner and more than 2,000 dead and wounded.
On June 24, 1954, Mr. Diem returned to the country to form a government at the invitation of the head of state Bao Dai. On July 7, 1954, Mr. Diem officially assumed the position of Prime Minister. Inviting Mr. Diem to take power in this completely dark and hopeless situation, their only intention was to burn his political future. He himself knew their ambition, but he said: "This is my hope, if it is too late, there will be no more hope." At that time, everyone in the country only had hope in him. III.-
1954 - 1963
On July 21, 1954, the Geneva Accords were signed between the two factions, France and the Viet Cong, dividing Vietnam into two parts with the 17th parallel as the boundary.
Starting from August 1954, President Diem's ​​first achievement was to bring more than one million compatriots from the North of the 17th parallel to settle in the South. He instructed local authorities to actively assist the settlement by all means, bringing security to compatriots in the new land. The new settlement areas of DarLac, Duc Lap, Binh Gia, Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Tuyen Duc, Long Khanh, Bien Hoa developed quickly and well. Right
in Saigon, President Diem encountered many great obstacles due to the disruptions of the colonial lackeys as well as the Binh Xuyen group. In October 1954, a demonstration in support of President Diem in the city center was obstructed by the Binh Xuyen police, who opened fire and killed 6 people. President Diem was so emotional and discouraged that he would have resigned if not for the prevention and encouragement of a spiritual advisor.
Encouraged, he continued his settlement work and gradually contacted the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao sects to support him or at least stay out of his conflict with Binh Xuyen. He called on General Trinh Minh The to join his side and the suppression of Binh Xuyen and its colonial henchmen began.
Along with the settlement program, he also focused on reforming the administrative apparatus, balancing personnel and rejuvenating the army, and eliminating many social evils.
On October 23, 1955, through a referendum, the entire population voted to abolish the monarchy and elected Ngo Dinh Diem as President. On October 26, 1956, Diem became the first President of the Republic of Vietnam. Public opinion at home and abroad, especially in the United States, was very favorable to him. The free world considered him the most brilliant leader in Asia, the most talented anti-communist fighter in the world. He was also given the title "Churchill of Vietnam."
From a completely hopeless situation to a bright future, a free South recognized by nearly 50 countries in the world, within 2 years, it was a rare success.
From 1956 to 1960 was considered the heyday of the First Republic. Wild forests and mountains were reclaimed into rich plantations, dry and cracked fields were turned into fertile rice fields. After ensuring the people's livelihood, he increased his efforts to develop social culture, improve education, reform Saigon University, and establish Hue University.
In October 1959, he dealt the first fatal blow to the Communists by launching the nationwide "Denounce Communism" campaign with the aim of exposing and naming the Viet Cong elements in hiding.
At first, Ho Chi Minh and his gang thought that time, at most three months or five years, would destroy Mr. Diem's ​​career, but after the opposite results, the Communist Party of Vietnam ordered its undercover agents to start reactivating and sending cadres from the North to infiltrate the South to terrorize and cause chaos. At the same time, internationally, they slandered Mr. Diem as a lackey of the US imperialists.
President Diem immediately counterattacked with the Strategic Hamlet policy from early 1962 to May 1963, aiming to gather the Nationalist farmers together and at the same time isolate the VC from the Hamlets.
After invading the South in 1975, the VC themselves had to admit that the Strategic Hamlets during the First Republic period had brought them the most difficulties, obstacles, fears and troubles during the war.
The Coup on November 1, 1963
The Coup on January 1, 1963 ended President Diem's ​​life in an M-113 armored personnel carrier at around 8:30 a.m. on November 2, 1963 on the Red Cross Road.
With the death of President Diem, the Vietnamese people lost a unique and talented President in history and the beloved land of South Vietnam also fell into the hands of the Communists after April 30, 1975."

Before discussing the comments of Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem in the 1945-1963 war, perhaps we should consider his reputation and leadership to fight against the invasion wave of the Communist Party of Vietnam through the comments of international and domestic leaders as follows: It can be
said that this historical figure has many conflicting comments, some praise him as a true patriot, others criticize him for his dictatorial rule, nepotism, but it can be said that he is the person who is most praised by Western heads of state:
-Dwight D. Eisenhower: Ngo Dinh Diem, a miracle man.
-Lyndon Baines Johnson: Ngo Dinh Diem, Churchill of the decade in Asia.
-Richard Nixon: President Ngo Dinh Diem is like a keystone of a dome.
In the country, there are comments about him as follows:
-Bao Dai: Ngo Dinh Diem is famous for being intelligent and honest.
-Phan Boi Chau, a patriot against French colonialism, commented: Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem was a patriot and a great man.
-Ho Chi Minh: Although they were enemies, Ho Chi Minh had to admit: Ngo Dinh Diem was a good and patriotic person.

Comments on the Vietnam War from 1945-1963 President Ngo Dinh Diem had the following policies :

1- Ever since he was a young governor (31 years old) under the Nguyen Dynasty (King Bao Dai), Ngo Dinh Diem had a passionate patriotism, seeking independence and freedom for Vietnam but through a peaceful, non-violent approach with the ambition to disarm French colonialism but not to beg foreign countries, because he believed that applying Communism to disarm colonialism would result in worse results because international communism always imposed the goal of global annexation, establishing a proletarian dictatorship worldwide. King Bao Dai and patriot Phan Boi Chau also respected his patriotism. With the position of Minister of the Interior (Ministry of Interior, head of the cabinet) of Bao Dai, Ngo Dinh Diem courageously resigned because he saw that France did not truly respect national sovereignty and reform Vietnam under the French commitment to protect.
Then in 1954, when the French power weakened, the Vietnamese Communist Party followed the International Communist ideology, acting as a lackey for Russia and China, confronting the Free Bloc supported by the West. The Head of State Bao Dai once again invited him to take the position of Prime Minister to steer the young National ship, both against the Colonialists and against the Communist dictatorship.
2- Ngo Dinh Diem's ​​political stance was completely different from Ho Chi Minh's. Even though he was imprisoned by the Communists and Ho personally bribed him to work for him, Mr. Diem still courageously refused the invitation to cooperate with Ho.
3- President Ngo Dinh Diem during his 9 years of governing the country (1954-1963) with the policy of "Fighting the Real, Fighting the Feuds, and Eliminating the Communist Bandits" means to drive the French colonialists out of our country, protect the country's Independence, eliminate the Nguyen Dynasty Feuds, bring Freedom and Democracy to all the people, and destroy the Communist bandits so that everyone can be well-off and love each other. Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem always maintained a true National stance: Protecting sovereignty, protecting the territory, not accepting foreign intervention in Vietnam even though the Communist Party of Vietnam at that time tried every way to infiltrate regular troops from the North to the South more and more. Because he clearly understood: accepting the presence of the United States in the South would destroy the righteousness of the self-defense fight against the Communist invaders and create an excuse for the Communist Party of Vietnam to fight the US to save the country.
4- The Vietnam War of 1954-1963 was a War of Self-Defense because there was absolutely no military action by the South to attack the North, on the contrary, the North crossed the 17th parallel, invaded and attacked the South under the orders of the International Communist Party. However, with a compassionate heart, not wanting a war of fratricide, Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem on the one hand worried about defending while at the same time conducting negotiations with the North to reach a compromise to avoid bloodshed among the Vietnamese.
In the book Vietnam, Fire and Blood, My Homeland, author Hoang Linh Do Mau quoted a letter from Mr. Vo Nhu Nguyen: At the end of the letter, there is a passage recounting Mr. Diem's ​​confiding to Mr. Nguyen:

"... Uncle Nhu and I have the idea that although the two regions of the Nationalist and Communist parties are in conflict, they are both blood relatives, there must be a brotherly solution to resolve the war, to reduce the loss of lives and property. Then whichever side drags on, will eventually be dependent on a superpower and the country will be divided, because the superpowers intend to divide both..." people will see that Mr. Diem wanted to avoid bloodshed as much as possible and did not want the superpowers to benefit from the internal conflict, a Civil War in Vietnam initiated by the Communists.
In Nguyen Sa Memoirs (published in 1998), Professor Tran Bich Lan recounted the story of how he and two professors Nguyen Van Phu and Nguyen Xuan Nghien had the opportunity to hear President Diem answer one of their three questions in a similar way. The question was why we did not concentrate our forces to fight a few big battles to quickly resolve the war, but kept fighting in a hesitant manner like this.
Mr. Diem said: “The nature of this war is like that. Expanding it will only cause more soldiers and civilians to die, and it will not solve anything.” Thirty-five years later, looking back, our teachers and poets have seen that Mr. Diem’s answer was not a sophistry as they thought before, but a very accurate prediction of the times.
What Mr. Ngo Dinh Nhu said at the closing ceremony of the 12th Strategic Hamlet class on June 22, 1963… was similar:
“We are a small country standing between two blocs. If the free world increases aid to us, the communist world will also increase aid to their side. If both sides continue to increase like this, the level of war will increase more and more. And what will be our fate tomorrow?”
Ngo Dinh Diem was a staunch nationalist and anti-communist, against the US military intervention in Vietnam. His stance was very resolute. He said:
"If you bring the US Army into Vietnam, how can I explain this to my people? For the Vietnamese people, the terrifying image of the French Expeditionary Army is still deeply imprinted in their minds. The intervention of any foreign army in Vietnam will bring disadvantages to Vietnam."

Ngo Dinh Diem's ​​stance was clearly for the Nation and the People, not wanting to be an "outpost" for anyone because it would have to depend too much on US aid, and would only give the Soviet Union and Communist China an excuse to jump in and tear Vietnam apart.
This is a historical event that needs to be carefully considered. We should not rush to make hasty accusations that the Diem brothers wanted to negotiate (compromise) with the communists or stab the soldiers in the back. Because after all, in 1972, why was it okay for the United States to negotiate with China, but the two regions of Vietnam, which suffered so much pain from the war, could not negotiate with each other in the spirit of the Nation? (Unlike the current situation, in 2009, the Communist Party of Vietnam was determined to rule the Vietnamese people with a bloody dictatorship, not accepting dialogue and opposition, but there were some people who wanted to follow their deceitful policy of Peace and Reconciliation!)
Comments on Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem by Minh Vo, a historical researcher and a colonel in the Psychological Warfare Department of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, wrote as follows:
“In the light of the historical events just mentioned, looking back at the past, we see that the struggle strategy that the two Diem brothers planned to apply in Vietnam before the two brothers was killed with good reason, and it should have succeeded. And if it had succeeded, South Vietnam, called the Republic of Vietnam, would have existed for quite a long time: or it could have been gloriously unified like Germany. If not, it would at least have existed in prosperity like South Korea or Taiwan.”
“In 1962-1963, Mr. Diem's ​​prestige was much greater than that of Mr. Ho. If Mr. Diem agreed to unite, it would be a strong union. Let's take a simple example: dissolve a solution of two opposing colors; dark blue (Diem) with light pink (Ho). The darker color will overwhelm and win over the lighter color. Of course, political reality is more complicated, because of the cunning of the famous fox. But on this point, Mr. Diem had experience from the above historical lessons with the communists. Moreover, Mr. Diem was not an immature politician who did not know his opponents as well as people thought.”
“For the above reasons, in my subjective opinion, if, yes, if, the word if does not exist in history! If the Diem brothers had not died, and the negotiation between the North and South had been carried out in the 60s of the last century, not only would the United States not have had to pour 2 million troops into Vietnam, causing the deaths of more than 58,000 American soldiers, but Vietnam would also have avoided a fratricidal war that killed over 3 million people."
There are many opinions of Vietnamese Nationalists who do not completely agree with Minh Vo's assessment:
a- They do not agree that when making the "Conciliation" proposal, it is not certain that Diem was in a stronger position than the Communists because the International Communists supported the North with all their might, while the United States both provided aid and pressured the South to follow their will. The Negotiation proposal was made too early, causing shock to the United States, an ally who is very rigid and autocratic, never listening to anyone's proposals, but only following American interests at each stage of the time.
b- Remember that the negotiation on a Mediation solution at that time had just begun, there are no published documents so the content and intentions of each side are not clearly understood, so it is impossible to say "Which cat bites which mouse" because both sides have a lot of experience, it is not easy for Mr. Diem to accept the Mediation and suffer a loss. Moreover, Mr. Diem's ​​tough and courageous attitude, even when he was captured by the communists in 1945, did not submit, so how could Mr. Diem, with his equal position, suffer a loss? We should not judge heroes by success or failure, anyway, Mr. Diem's ​​courage to consider the Mediation issue without the consent of the US is indeed an admirable act rather than a blameworthy one. Moreover, in 1972, when the United States negotiated with Communist China to seek peace for the war, it was impossible to say that President Nixon was a traitor (to the United States), so why are we so quick to condemn Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem for having the intention of betraying the nation?
c- Some people are skeptical and think that Ho was a cunning fox who leaked information while the two sides were discussing, plotting this to use the US to harm Mr. Diem, so the US gave the green light for the generals to kill Mr. Diem because he did not follow the US's policy. I would like to say that this is the argument of the communists, wanting to polish Ho's image and lower Mr. Diem's ​​reputation. Mr. Diem asked the head of the Polish delegation in the Ceasefire Control Commission, Mieczyslaw Maneli, and also the Italian ambassador Giovanni d'Orlandi and the representative of the Vatican in Vietnam, Bishop Salvatore D'Asta, along with many others, to act as intermediaries in the negotiations. At the same time, Mr. Diem and Mr. Nhu also semi-officially and semi-publicly announced this Negotiation Agreement, so it is clear that the two of them had carefully assessed and were not too politically immature as some people mistakenly thought. The United States had a lot of experience in battlefields, but they were completely new to guerrilla warfare, so when the US generals first entered Vietnam, they thought that they could easily win the war in Vietnam, but then they thought differently after losing 58,000 soldiers, they sought a negotiated solution. As for Mr. Diem and Mr. Nhu, they knew very well that the essence of the war was that the North Vietnamese Communists were just the agents of the International Communists and needed to draw them back to the People's Republic. It was just a pity that this proposal for a negotiation was probably too early because later in 1968-1972, the US tried to seek negotiations between the US and Communist China to find a solution to stabilize Southeast Asia without losing lives on both sides.
d- Today (2009) the position of the National Communist Party is completely different from 1961, the Communist Party of Vietnam is ruling the whole of Vietnam by stubborn measures, patching up Socialism, so of course applying reconciliation with the Communist Party of Vietnam is surrender, is turning the tables and deserves to be condemned. As long as the Communist Party of Vietnam is willing to abandon Socialism, abolish the entire Constitution, and sincerely accept the "Referendum", then that day will end the struggle for Democracy for Vietnam.


Summary of the comments of Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem, President of the Republic of Vietnam, about the war in the period of 1954-1963 as follows:
- Accept aid from Allied countries to help financially and restore Vietnam, but do not accept sending troops to the South because it will destroy the legitimacy.
-Since 1958, Mr. Diem and Nhu have proposed the Tam Tuc, Tam Giac policy (that is, self-sufficiency in Ideology, self-sufficiency in Organization, Supplies, and Self-sufficiency in Technology. The triangle is self-awareness in protecting Health, Morality, and Intelligence) to fight Communism in the Vietnamese way without being oppressed by foreign countries. Do not accept the Communist regime and put Communism outside the Law because Communism is not beneficial to the Vietnamese people.
- In 1956, Mr. Diem did not accept the Peace Accords because at that time the South was not politically stable, while the Communists had plotted to plant 60,000 cadres in the South so that when the General Election was held, they would bring victory to the Communists. This clearly dispels the argument of the Vietnamese Communists: the reason for the North-South war was because the South boycotted the Peace Accords, but later we clearly saw that from 1960-1963 the South considered and discussed the Peace Accords with the North to avoid a Civil War, while Ho and the Vietnamese Communist Party insisted on the policy of "invading the South" at all costs. Obviously, the two policies of the two sides were completely different in terms of Humanity.


Appendix: Comments on the war by advisor Ngo Dinh Nhu, younger brother of late President Ngo Dinh Diem, a strategist, theorist, and leader of the Can Lao Nhan Vi party, through his famous political thesis "Chinh De Viet Nam" made the following comments on the Vietnam War 1945-1963:

- http://chinhdevietnam.blogspot.com/2009/11/chinh-e-viet-nam-luan-chinh-tri-cua-ong.html Long Dien's blog posted the entire 198-page book " Chinh De Viet Nam " which was published in 2004.
-http://vietcatholic.net/News/Html/72733.htm Mr. Ngo Dinh Nhu's Viewpoint on the Danger of Communist China's Invasion. Comment by Dr. Pham Van Luu:
"Regarding the content of the work, perhaps the most captivating part that the writer admires is that, nearly half a century ago, Mr. Nhu commented that the Soviet Union would dissolve itself to make peace with the West and that Communist China would fail in using Communism to develop its economy, just as Europe would gather together in a unified bloc like the European Union today.
... The Short-sightedness of the Hanoi Government:

China's invasion of Vietnam is long-term, but the Hanoi leaders, because of their short-sightedness and the narrow interests of the Communist Party and also possibly because of the selfish personal interests of the leaders, were not aware of the terrible danger of Chinese invasion. They disregarded the interests of the nation and people, and allied with China. The Communists and the Soviet Union lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to exploit the contradictions between the Western bloc and the Soviet Union after World War II, to restore independence and receive aid from both blocs to develop the nation… like India. On the contrary, willingly becoming a vassal of China and the Soviet Union led Vietnam into a meaningless and unreasonable war with the West, and brought about an extremely terrible consequence for the entire nation, which was the destruction of the entire vitality of the nation, both spiritually and materially and the lives of the Vietnamese people, for more than 30 years… But even worse, receiving aid from China was the premise for inviting the invasion from the North into Vietnam today.
Since the early years of the 1960s, Mr. Nhu had seen through the danger of that age-old invasion as follows:

"In the history of diplomatic relations between us and China, all the events that happened were due to two opposing psychologies. Since 972, after recognizing Vietnam's independence, China always thought that it had lost a part of its national territory, and always exploited every opportunity to reclaim the land that China considered to be theirs. On the other side, Vietnam always tried to shed blood to protect its independence. All the events that happened between the two countries were due to the difference between the two concepts above."
…."China's fixed intention is to reestablish its rule and China is never satisfied with our submission and tribute. Even when our army was at its strongest and defeated the Chinese army, the leaders of Vietnam were wise enough to seek an agreement with China and place themselves in a vassal state. However, what China wants is not for Vietnam to simply submit and pay tribute. China, throughout nearly a thousand years of history, has always wanted to take back the land that China considered temporarily lost."
…Seeing this is enough to know that, for our people, the threat of invasion is a constant threat. (p. 166)

Therefore, Mao Zedong's China, as well as the China of the Yuan, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, is an eternal threat.

Worshiping Communism is a Serious Mistake
….From here, the Vietnam War became a military and local battlefield of the dispute between Soviet Russia and the West. The contradictions between Russia and the West, which should have been used for the development of the nation, became weapons of death for the entire people. The elements of an opportunity for development were transformed into instruments of disaster.

"At the same time, and this is extremely important for us, the domination of China, and behind the domination, the threat of Chinese invasion, which we have known to be extremely heavy, continuously, for us for more than eight hundred years, temporarily suspended during almost a century of French rule, has begun to operate again in the form of aid and military advice to the army of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam."
…”The above-mentioned dependence and the division of the territory created the circumstances for the domination and attempted domination of China over Vietnam to reappear fiercely, after nearly a century of absence. The memories of the cruel periods of Chinese domination over us are still recorded in every page of our nation's history and in every cell of our body.

"The leaders of the North, when they placed themselves under the domination of Communist China, have placed us before a terrible prospect of slavery. Their actions, if effective, will not only destroy all our opportunities for development, but also threaten the existence of the nation."

"The reason why, up to now, the domination of Communist China over Vietnam has not yet taken shape is because the world political situation has not allowed it, and the existence of the South under the influence of the West is both a political and military obstacle to that domination. Suppose that South Vietnam were annexed by North Vietnam, then Communist China's annexation of Vietnam would only be a matter of time."

"In the current situation, the existence of the South is both a guarantee for the nation to escape the domination of Communist China, and a guarantee of an escape route for the Communist leaders of North Vietnam, when they realize the danger they are creating for the nation. But as long as they continue to carry out their intention to invade the South, they will still be subject to the influence of Communist China's policy of war and aggression, instead of the policy of peaceful coexistence of Soviet Russia."

3-President Nguyen Van Thieu:

Nguyen Van Thieu (1923-2001)

Biography :
Mr. Nguyen Van Thieu was born on December 11, 1924 in Tri Thuy village near Phan Rang provincial capital, Ninh Thuan province. He married Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Anh in My Tho, had three children and one adopted child. He received training in the Basic Infantry Officer Course at Coetquidan school (France, 1949 and graduated in June 1950). He was appointed Commander of the Dalat Military Academy of the Republic of Vietnam in Dalat in March 1955. He went to Okinawa, Japan in 1962 to receive training at the Pacific Command and General Staff School, then held the position of Commander of the 5th Infantry Division of Bien Hoa. In 1964, he was promoted to Major General, then Lieutenant General in 1965 and entered politics as Vice President and Chief of National Defense in the Phan Huy Quat government, concurrently holding the position of Chairman of the Military Council. In 1965, he was trusted in the position of Chairman of the National Leadership Committee. He was elected President of the Second Republic for two terms from September 1967.
In April 1975, under pressure from the United States and Hanoi Communists, he resigned as President of the Republic of Vietnam. After leaving his homeland, he lived for a while in London, England. In 1985, he settled in Hong Kong and lived in West Newton and then Foxboro in the state of Massachusetts.
He passed away on September 29, 2001 at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA, at the age of 78.
- During his time as the leader of the country, President Nguyen Van Thieu accomplished the following:

* In terms of military, the late President Nguyen Van Thieu, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, led the ARVN, causing heavy defeats to the communists through three general offensives in the year of the Tet Offensive (1968), in which 100,000 regular soldiers, guerrillas, and underground cadres were eliminated from the battle. After that, the fierce war continued, in 1972, once again with his wise leadership, the ARVN repelled the general attacks of the North Vietnamese Communists on the fronts of Tri Thien, Komtum, and Binh Long. While the front was still smelling of gunpowder and burning hot, the late President Nguyen Van Thieu did not fear danger, personally going to the battlefield to console and reward the heroic soldiers of the military.

* In terms of politics, he put forward the 4 NOs as a guideline for the political strategy of the Republic of Vietnam government: DO NOT RECOGNIZE COMMUNISM, DO NOT NEUTRALIZE THE SOUTH, DO NOT ESTABLISH A COALITION GOVERNMENT and DO NOT CEDATE LAND TO COMMUNISM.
The late President of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu deserves to be recognized by history as follows:

- He was a brave Commander-in-Chief, not afraid of danger, he went to the battlefield when the battle was still filled with the smell of gunpowder to console and reward the heroic soldiers. - President Nguyen Van Thieu was a simple man, that was his true nature, he never staged or showed off and he was always very close to the soldiers, he was present in any battlefield no matter how dangerous, he was always there to console and console the fighting spirit of the Republic of Vietnam soldiers.

- He was a fighter for FREEDOM against the Communist dictatorship.
- He was also a fighter for DEMOCRACY who had the merit of founding the Second Republic for the South, building a DEMOCRACY and RULE OF LAW regime for the people of the South even though the country was being ravaged by war.
- He was a person determined to protect the territory with the determination not to let any inch of land fall into the hands of foreigners, typically in the Hoang Sa naval battle on January 19, 1974, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, he ordered the Navy of Tactical Zone I, despite its weaker firepower, despite its isolation (without the support of the US Seventh Fleet), to attack the Chinese warships that had brazenly invaded Hoang Sa. In contrast to the despicable act of North Vietnam sending a diplomatic note recognizing Hoang Sa and Truong Sa as belonging to Communist China!
- And above all, he was a TRUE PATRIOT who did not hesitate to sacrifice his life and career to fight for the people of the South to have a just peace in Freedom and Democracy with the policy of "Four No's". It was for this ultimate goal that he was willing to give up his position as President so that political forces could arrange a political solution for Vietnam".

Comments about former President Nguyen Van Thieu by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nguyen Ba Can written in 2001 as follows:
“I found him to be a cautious and steadfast political leader, and above all, a patriot. He worried day and night about the fate of the nation, constantly calculating the victory on the battlefield against the enemy, as well as at the peace conference table, both fighting the enemy and, cruelly, dealing with even his own allies.”
- In 1992, in the United States, he spoke out against the rapprochement between the government of the United States of America and the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, but shortly after, he wanted to participate in national reconciliation discussions, which angered some extremists, and General Tran Van Don commented through his memoirs (published in 1997) that Mr. Thieu was a man of the times with the policy of dialogue between people in the country despite different political views.

- The important national policies of President Nguyen Van Thieu have achieved great success:

1-Land to Tillers Law :
In 1970, President of the Second Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu issued the Law "Land to Tillers" which stipulated that land not directly cultivated would be automatically confiscated and must be adequately compensated according to current prices. Confiscated land was given priority to be allocated to tenant farmers (3 acres in the South and 1 acre in the Central Highlands and Central regions). Landowners who directly cultivated land were only allowed to keep a maximum of 15 acres. However, the Law "Land to Tillers" was not allowed to be applied to land of religious organizations and family ancestral land of the people.
In the South of Vietnam, the feudal agricultural production method was completely eliminated. New farming methods with technical advances were applied to increase productivity. After completing the Land to the Tillers program in the years 1970-1973, the Republic of Vietnam had 80 percent of middle-class peasants and this peasant class was the main force of agricultural production in South Vietnam. The remaining 20 percent were rich peasants and rich middle-class peasants who owned about 10 percent of the cultivated land. In addition to cultivating the remaining land after expropriation, these rich peasants also did business in agricultural mechanical services, circulated agricultural products, processed agricultural food products in a very free rural commercial and agricultural labor market. After the Republic of Vietnam completed the Land to the Tillers program, there was no longer a large-scale landlord class in South Vietnam. In the three years 1970-1973, the result of the "Land to the Tillers" program was to end the tenant farming regime in South Vietnam when tenant farmers became landlords.

Through the two comparisons just mentioned, we can see that the Land Reform policy of the Republic of Vietnam and the Land Reform policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam are different in that one side kills people (rich farmers, middle farmers, landlords) to seize land and then says it is distributed to the poor (in reality, after 2 years, the Communist Party of Vietnam put all land into agricultural cooperatives, and the poor farmers no longer own any land. In the South, according to the policy of President Nguyen Van Thieu, the land of the big landlords was purchased by the government at a fair price and then sold in installments for 12 years to the poor farmers. The big landlords were only allowed to keep a maximum of 15 hectares if they directly cultivated it. After 1973, the "tenant farming" practice of renting land from the crazy landlord ended because the farmers were granted and sold in installments.
After 1975 until now, what happened? The land is completely owned by the state, the people only have the right to use the land, that is, the red book. They can buy and sell the land left by their ancestors, but the Other types of land, whenever the state needs to use them for planning, must be sold at prices set by local authorities! A form of daylight robbery. Therefore, there are thousands of farmers now suing for land, a daily occurrence in Vietnam that the government cannot resolve. Some farmers have been suing and protesting for nearly 20 years without being resolved.
2-Property Transformation Program:
This program continued from the time of President Ngo Dinh Diem to the time of President Nguyen Van Thieu to help and improve industries such as cyclo, grave-grave vehicle, three-wheeled vehicle purchased on installments, lam vehicle, taxi, turning those who rent vehicles to make a living into real owners of public transportation, both creating a better life for the poor and improving primitive means of transportation into more civilized means.
3- The national policy of "Chieu Hoi":
It can be said that during the 10 years of President Nguyen Van Thieu's rule, the national policy of "Chieu Hoi" achieved the greatest success. There are no statistics for the two years 1974 and 1975, but from 1963 to 1973, there were over 200,000 reformed members returning to the national cause. This was the most meaningful act in the spirit of the Nation and the spirit of the People because you can imagine 200,000 communist soldiers, equivalent to 20 divisions, holding guns and shooting their own people, now being called upon with compassion to return to the national cause and then they were allowed to reunite with their families.
Chart of the Chieu Hoi national policy achieved from 1963 to early 1971.



The commemorative stamp on February 18, 1973 was the day the 200,000th Hoi Chanh (equivalent to 20 divisions) was achieved and the passport for communist cadres who wanted to return to the right path.
This call for great national unity was the most practical and sincere action because it was specifically proven by promises and actions that went together, the returnees no longer felt inferior as surrenderers, but were treated as lost brothers who had now returned to the great family of the Nation.


Chieu Hoi is the Great National Unity Image of the happy return day of VC soldiers in Tam Ky
When returning to the National cause, the returnees were free to reunite with their families, travel and also learn a trade according to their needs.

Studying the National path on the first day of return. The gold medalists went out to play at the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden. A vocational training class in Bien Hoa for gold medalists


Famous quotes of Mr. Nguyen Van Thieu when he held the position of President of the Republic of Vietnam
"Don't listen to what the Communists say, but look closely at what the Communists do!
Eat the national rice and worship the Communist ghosts -
Satire referring to the Communists who were hiding in the South Vietnam before 1975.
A thousand-year merit, the child denounces the mother, a hundred-year love, the wife denounces the husband -
Satire referring to the Communist's policy of denunciation.
The country remains, everything remains; the communists win, everything is lost.
Being an enemy of the US is easy, being a friend of the US is very difficult.
Living without freedom is death. ”-
President Nguyen Van Thieu's assessment of the 1945-1975 war:
- The war in South Vietnam was a self-defense war, masterminded by the communists to attack the South. In an interview with BBC radio before signing the 1973 ceasefire agreement, he said:
- “I think that freedom and a better life for the 17.5 million people in South Vietnam are not only for this generation but also for future generations. I think that is the price that the people of South Vietnam have paid. No one likes war. I myself do not like war. Some people told me that they were against war, and I also told them that I was against war.”
- He believed in Freedom, Democracy, and Nationalism: "I think that when the people in South Vietnam can freely speak democratically without fear of being beheaded by the communists, then I can assure you that the entire people in South Vietnam will choose freedom."
- Through the Chieu Hoi national policy that he implemented and achieved glorious success, we see that he had a compassionate heart, did not want to see war and killing between Vietnamese people, so he used the Chieu Hoi policy to open a way for the Viet Cong soldiers who had lost their way to return to the Nationalism, ending the scene of bloodshed.
Long Dien 

(Please continue to chapter 3)