The lost mandate of heaven
Subtitle: the American betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam
By: Geoffrey D.T. Shaw ; with a foreword by James V. Schall, S.J.
Contributors: Schall, James V., writer of foreword
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 314
ISBN-13: 9781586179359
Subjects: Assassination; Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Foreign relations
Description: "Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam, possessed the Confucian "Mandate of Heaven", a moral and political authority that was widely recognized by all Vietnamese. This devout Roman Catholic leader never lost this mandate in the eyes of his people; rather, he was taken down by a military coup sponsored by the U.S. government, which resulted in his brutal murder. The commonly held view runs contrary to the above assertion by military historian Geoffrey Shaw. According to many American historians, President Diem was a corrupt leader whose tyrannical actions lost him the loyalty of his people and the possibility of a military victory over the North Vietnamese. The Kennedy Administration, they argue, had to withdraw its support of Diem. Based on his research of original sources, including declassified documents of the U.S. government, Shaw chronicles the Kennedy administration's betrayal of this ally, which proved to be not only a moral failure but also a political disaster that led America into a protracted and costly war. Along the way, Shaw reveals a President Diem very different from the despot portrayed by the press during its coverage of Vietnam. From eyewitness accounts of military, intelligence, and diplomatic sources, Shaw draws the portrait of a man with rare integrity, a patriot who strove to free his country from Western colonialism while protecting it from Communism."--Book jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Diplomacy in South Vietnam from the late 1950s to 1960; title: U.S. Ambassador Elbridge Durbrow; title: Enter Ambassador Frederick Nolting; title: The continuing Laotian question; title: The counterinsurgency plan; title: Policemen versus soldiers; title: The abrogation of Nolting's rapprochement; title: Nolting's rearguard action; title: The decline of the Nolting influence; title: The Buddhist crisis of 1963; title: Washington isolates Diem; title: Nolting's farewell; title: Washington moves for a coup.