History 485A
Devine
Fall 2011
Study Questions: Cold War Mandarin
Introduction
- In the brief overview of Diem as
a leader that the author gives in his Introduction, he remarks, “Washington could
scarcely have chosen a Cold War surrogate more intellectually unsuited to
the task confronting him.” (3) What
was Diem’s task and why was he unsuited for it?
- What were some of the major
consequences of Washington’s
effort to construct a viable South Vietnamese state around Diem?
Chapter 1
- What three sets of circumstances
came together to facilitate Diem’s coming to power?
- How did McCarthyism, NSC-68, and
the outbreak of the Korean War help to insure that Diem would get
attention and a positive review when he visited the United States
in 1950?
- If the Americans had known more
about Diem’s views about political reform and how it should be brought
about, why might they have realized he would not make an especially good
“democrat”?
- What are the origins of Diem’s
anticommunism? Why did he reject
Ho’s offer to include him in his coalition?
- Why did Diem seem a good
politician to support among those Americans who sought a “third
force”? How did Diem use his
association with the “third force” to broaden his support beyond conservative
Catholics?
- Ultimately, why did US
policymakers decide Diem was “the kind of Asian we can live with”?
Chapter 2
- Why did the Chinese and Soviets
“double cross” the Viet Minh at Geneva? How did the outcome of the Geneva
Accords benefit Diem?
- Why did Diem’s arrival in Saigon suggest that he would not be an effective
premier?
- What was “Operation Passage to
Freedom”? How did coverage of this
event cement America’s
alliance with Diem?
- Who was Tom Dooley and why did he
become such a celebrity? What
shortcomings does Jacobs find in his writing? How does Dooley’s work exemplify the
kind of parochial – and even racist – thinking that Bradley discusses in Imagining Vietnam?
- Why does Jacobs argue that the American
public did not get a “complete picture” of Operation Passage to
Freedom? What aspects were left
out? What unintended consequences
resulted?
Chapter 3
- Why was Diem in a weak position
in 1954? Why did it seem unlikely
he would be able unify the south into one nation under his control?
- Upon arriving in Saigon, what impression did Lawton Collins get of
Diem and his regime? What steps did
he believe Diem had to take to stabilize South Vietnam? What did Washington think of Collins’
suggestions?
- How did American domestic
politics factor into Dulles’ willingness to heed Collins’ advice about
Diem? What role did Senator Mike
Mansfield play in this process? (Did Collins and Mansfield remind you of
any of the characters in The Ugly
American?)
- How did Diem respond to
challenges to his authority from various religious sects and criminal
groups? How did events in Washington
influence the timing of his actions?
- How did the “Battle of Saigon”
affect Diem’s fortunes both in the US
and in South Vietnam?
- Why does Jacobs argue that
Eisenhower’s willingness to continue his support for Diem and to accept
the withdrawal of the French Expeditionary Corps (FEC) marked a “true
crossing of the Rubicon”? (80)
Chapter 4
- Who was Ba
Cut? Why did Diem hate him? What did his treatment of Ba Cut (and, more broadly, his behavior in the wake of
the Battle of Saigon) reveal about Diem and his prospects for future
success as leader of South
Vietnam?
- What evidence does Jacobs
introduce to show that Diem’s regime was a sham democracy?
- What was “Personalism”? To what extent was this philosophy also
a “third way”? In practice, how did
the Ngo brothers implement “Personalism” in South Vietnam?
- Though his brutal tactics proved
effective in subduing the Communists initially, how did Diem’s
anti-communist policies undermine his regime in the long run? In what ways did his attempts to
increase the regime’s security end up making him more enemies that
friends?
- Why were the peasants
dissatisfied with Diem’s land reform policies? Why did the implementation of the
reforms cause even more resentment?
- How did the US manage to get more of its military
personnel into South
Vietnam without – technically –
violating the Geneva Accords?
- What was the goal of the
Commercial Import Program (CIP)?
Why did this idea, promising in theory, not work in practice?
- If Diem was so ineffective at
governing South Vietnam,
how was he able to keep the Americans from noticing? What role did the American Friends of
Vietnam (AFV) play in propping up the charade?
- Why does the author say the story
of South Vietnam
during the Eisenhower years was really two stories? Why were there two stories?
Chapter
5
- What did the “Caravelle
Group” have to say about the Diem regime?
Upon hearing their conclusions, why did the Eisenhower
administration nonetheless decide to continue its policy of “sink or swim”
with Diem?
- Why did the 1960 coup attempt
reveal the depth of Diem’s unpopularity?
- Why does the author maintain that
Diem was just as responsible as the Communists in Hanoi for the formation of the NLF? (“If the spark came from Hanoi, Diem
furnished the tinder.”) (121)
- Why did Diem’s agroville and strategic hamlet programs fail in
practice? Why did his repressive
response to stepped up NLF activity further undermine his regime?
- How did the Kennedy
administration’s assessment of the situation in South
Vietnam differ from that of several U.S.
reporters? Why did official Washington remain
so optimistic while these reporters expressed pessimism?
Chapter 6
- What assessment of Diem did
Senator Mike Mansfield give to President Kennedy? What suggestion did he make to the
President and how did JFK respond?
- What did the battle of Ap Bac reveal about the relative strength and commitment
of the South Vietnamese army and the NLF?
- How would you rate Diem’s
handling of the Buddhist Crisis?
Why did he seem so clueless when it came to seeing how his people,
not to mention Washington,
might perceive his actions?
Chapter 7
- How did Henry Cabot Lodge’s
approach to Diem differ from Ambassador Nolting’s?
- Why did Washington finally decide that Diem had
to go? What factors convinced the
Kennedy administration that a coup should occur and that such a coup was
in U.S.
interests?
- What steps did Diem take at the
last moment to avoid being overthrown? Do you think his overtures to the
North were sincere or a tactic to blackmail the Americans? What was the purpose of “Operation
Bravo”?
- What were the arguments against
supporting an anti-Diem coup?
- According to Jacobs, did the coup
against Diem in any way change the overall trajectory of the Vietnam War
in the Americans’ favor?
Conclusion
- Why was support for Diem so
devastating to American interests and credibility? How did support of Diem pull the US ever
more inextricably into the Vietnam war?
- How does the author react to the
argument that the US (and South
Vietnam) would have been better off had
Diem remained in power since his corrupt successors proved even more
unreliable and less patriotic?