Why was vietnam partitioned at the seventeenth parallel

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Access options available: Download PDF. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: 42Yearbook of the AssociationVol. Additional Information. The non-communist puppet government set up by the French in southern Vietnam refused to sign, but without French support this was of little concern at the time.

The United States also refused to sign, but did commit itself to abide by the agreement. Privately, U. They were convinced that national elections in Vietnam would result in an overwhelming victory for Ho, the man who had defeated the French colonialists. The U. Within a year, the United States had helped establish a new anti-communist government in South Vietnam and began giving it financial and military assistance, the first fateful steps toward even greater U.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On April 26, , former Liberian president Charles Taylor is found guilty of abetting horrific war crimes, including rape and mutilation in Sierra Leone. His conviction was the first for war crimes by a former head of state in an international court since the Nuremberg trials Thirty-two people died and dozens more suffered radiation burns in the opening days of the crisis, but only after Swedish authorities reported the On April 26, , the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.

Children in the United States, Canada and Finland participated in the trials, which used for the first time the The trip marked the third time a U. James Beckwourth, one of only a handful of early mountain men to emerge from the system of slavery, is born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He had two alternatives: he could either eliminate these groups or integrate them into the body politic.

In either case, he needed a strong loyal army. The Army Chief of Staff at the time was Gen. Nguyen Van Hinh, a French citizen, whom Diem suspected of conspiring against him. On September 11, , Diem demanded Hinh's resignation, initiating a 7-week army crisis. Hinh refused to accede to Diem's order and barricaded himself in his headquarters. Fear of a coup d'etat or an attempt on his life forced Diem to withdraw to his palace.

Ironically, Diem's guards were under the control of the Binh Xuyen, of whom he strongly disapproved because of its affiliation with gambling and prostitution. The Binh Xuyen, however, were willing to defend Diem, at least temporarily, for two reasons: loyalty to Bao Dai, and therefore to Diem, his appointee; and rivalry with the National Army. When the Binh Xuyen gained control of the police, many security investigators joined the Vietnamese National Army.

During the crisis, Diem's administrative power was reduced to impotence when Hinh demonstrated the strength of his position by ordering troops to patrol the capital. It was evident in the beginning that Hinh could execute a coup d'etat with considerable ease, but he showed reluctance to do so and instead sought to temporize.

In a manifesto dated September 16, the sects and the Binh Xuyen officially dissociated themselves from Diem and declared the need for a democratic government, liberation of the country from foreign domination and enactment of measures to eliminate poverty and illiteracy. In order to appease Hinh, Diem appointed Gen. Pleased with the appointment, Hinh agreed not to take action and asked Bao Dai to arbitrate the disagreement between the sects, the Binh Xuyen, and Diem.

The U. Embassy now intervened in Diem's favor and warned Hinh that a military coup d'etat would result in the halting of economic and military aid. The sect leaders, however, made demands unacceptable to Le Van Vien, who accused them of selling their services to Prime Minister Diem.

The accusation was well founded, for on September 24 Diem persuaded the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao to accept four seats each in his new Cabinet. Nine of Diem's ministers had resigned on September 20, further weakening his position. Cao Dai and Hoa Hao unwillingness to concede leadership in the coalition government to Vien, and the refusal of the latter to finance Cao Dai and Hoa Hao activities after their loss of French subsidies, caused the leaders of the religious sects to defect, at least nominally, to Diem.

The Binh Xuyen, however, since they still controlled the National Police, refused to enter the new Government. The army crisis ended when Hinh was finally dismissed, and a temporary calm reigned over the country. Diem dealt another blow to the power of the Binh Xuyen when, in his campaign against vice and corruption, he refused to renew the licenses of the "Grand Monde" and "Cloche d'Or" when they expired on January 15, Vien apparently accepted the decision, regretting only that the Government was willing to lose such an important source of revenue.

Meanwhile the Cao Dai, Hoa Hoa, and Binh Xuyen maintained an uneasy truce, broken by frequent clashes when one group trespassed on another's domain. Fearing that sectarian differences would result in the weakening of their resistance against Diem's demands, Bao Dai urged the three groups to unify.

On March 5, , the three groups, totaling 25, men, formed a "United Front of National Forces," an anti-Government coalition to promote the formation of a democratic government. The Front requested Bao Dai to dismiss Diem and to turn over the reins of power to them; on March 21, they issued an ultimatum giving Diem 5 days to form a "strong, honest, democratic government of national union. Under U.

At the expiration of the ultimatum, the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao representatives resigned from the Cabinet. In retaliation for Diem's refusal to comply with the ultimatum, the Hoa Hao held up food supplies for Saigon-Cholon, and the Binh Xuyen established themselves in the police and security headquarters and in other buildings in the twin cities. Diem ordered paratroops to occupy the police and security headquarters.

They ousted the Binh Xuyen from the police headquarters without difficulty, but could not force the commandos from the Security Service building.

On March 28, Diem ordered Col. Cao Van Tri, the paratroop commander, to attack the building. The French intervened in the attack, causing the postponement of hostilities until the night of March Unable to bury their differences, the religious sects soon accused the Binh Xuyen of forcing them into open conflict with Diem.

On the night of March , fighting broke out between the Binh Xuyen and the Army. The French soon arranged a cease-fire, to Diem's annoyance. The Prime Minister accused the French of secretly supporting the religious sects and the Binh Xuyen; rumor was rife that the French had given the Binh Xuyen tactical advice during the affray.

It was known that the French obstructed Government forces by denying them fuel, transport, and ammunition. An article which appeared on April 14 in the French newspaper L'Observateur alleged that no attempt had been made by the French to retrieve the arms they had lent the sects during the war against the Viet Minh, though the conditions of the loan stated that the arms must be returned after the hostilities.

The increase in the power of the sects and the Binh Xuyen was in large part attributed to the French. Meanwhile, the Binh Xuyen commando units under Vien, who now proclaimed himself "Commander in Chief of the Opposition,"still held the Security Service building in Saigon and interrupted the routine examination of passports at the airfield and port.

The Ministry of Finance adjacent to the Security Service headquarters , the police headquarters, and the port office were under National Army occupation. At first Diem tried to break the Binh Xuyen power by means of verbal persuasion. On April 3, he made a radio appeal to the members of the Binh Xuyen, encouraging them to desert the armed organization and promising them amnesty.

The Binh Xuyen lifted their 3-day food blockade, but they refused to relinquish the Security Service building. When no Binh Xuyen soldiers deserted to the Government, stronger measures were enacted.

Plainclothes operatives of the Binh Xuyen were to be searched for illegal arms caches, and a psychological operations program, a "murmuring" campaign, was to be initiated against the Binh Xuyen militia. Meanwhile, a 6-day truce had been arranged with the Binh Xuyen so that no known Binh Xuyen strongholds would be attacked. The French promised to induce the organization to hand over the Security building to the Government by peaceful means. When none of these measures proved effective, Diem dismissed the Binh Xuyen director-general of the Security Service, Lai Huu Sang, and ordered members of the Service to report to the new director within 48 hours or face court martial.

Furthermore, by the end of this same period, Binh Xuyen troops would no longer be permitted free circulation in Saigon-Cholon. The truce ended April 28 and fighting between the Binh Xuyen and the National Army broke out once more. The French Commander urged Diem to call for a cease-fire, but the Prime Minister, who believed that the power of the Binh Xuyen would have been smashed in March had fighting been allowed to continue, refused. In order to ensure the defeat of the Binh Xuyen this time, Diem ordered 4 battalions of paratroops and an armored car squadron into the battle, keeping in reserve 14 battalions plus an unknown number of reinforcements from central Vietnam.

The Binh Xuyen, estimated to number 2,, were entrenched in various buildings throughout Saigon-Cholon. Anticipating French intervention, Le Van Vien refused to call on his 4, reserves and failed to organize an effective resistance. Accordingly, the high school, the cinema, and the printing works—the last three centers of Binh Xuyen resistance—fell to the paratroops early on April By midnight the Binh Xuyen resistance had collapsed, paratroops occupied Vien's headquarters, and the Binh Xuyen, including Vien, had fled.

The eviction of the Binh Xuyen from Cholon was attributed to their neglect of military training, incompetent officers, outdated arms, and the willingness of the National Army to defend Diem. Fearing that the Binh Xuyen might reorganize, the Government sought to expel Vien and his remaining battalions from the swamp hideouts in the Rung Sat area south of Saigon-Cholon, where they had retreated after their eviction from the twin cities.

In May, Government troops blocked the approaches to the Rung Sat area, and awaited the desertion of soldiers capable of providing information on the military strength and location of the Binh Xuyen. Le Van Vien escaped to France with French assistance. Government troops were now free to continue their offensive against the remaining dissident Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups.

By October , the power of the sects and the Binh Xuyen had collapsed. His power base was significantly strengthened by million or so refugees from North Vietnam, many of them Catholics, who also hated the regime in the North. The Diem government launched an anticommunist campaign in South Vietnam. Party in response to the North stepped up its terrorist activities in the South, assassinating several hundred officials of the Diem government.

This led to the arrest of another 65, suspected Communists and the killing of more than 2, by the Saigon government in Repression by the Diem regime led to the rise of armed rebel self-defense units in various parts of the South, with the units often operating on their own without any party direction. Observing that a potential revolutionary situation had been created by popular resentment of the Diem government and fearing that the government's anticommunist policy would destroy or weaken party organization in the South, the Vietnam Workers Party VWP leadership in North Vietnam determined that the time had come to resort to violent struggle.

Sergei Blagov wrote in the Asia Times, "A daring young leader slain under mysterious circumstances while riding in an open car The victim here is Vietnamese General Trinh Minh The "who was struck behind the ear, apparently by a sniper bullet, on May 3, From the angle at which he was hit, the rifleman appears to have been behind and above Trinh Minh The - just as the sniper would later be when JFK was shot.

Trinh Minh The was widely believed to have been shot from behind, and the wound was powder-blackened, indicating a shot at point-blank range. The bullet reportedly entered Trinh Minh The's right ear, went through his head and blew off the left eye. The discrepancies could have been solved by a routine autopsy, but the authorities never completed one. The Saigon government, headed by Ngo Dinh Diem, was later accused of covering up what was seen as Vietnam's most important unsolved crime.

Trinh Minh The, portrayed in a book and film, The Quiet American, as a main dirty-dog character, had many enemies. Yet his supporters viewed him as a truly independent nationalist, one who might have provided Vietnam with better leadership than Diem, an installed "alternative". In the wake of Trinh Minh The's demise, Diem crushed the opposition as the first step toward monopolizing power in South Vietnam.

Some think that the legendary covert operator Edward G Lansdale was behind the assassination. Edward G Lansdale was legendary covert operator in South Vietnam regarded as a "white-hat hero figure immersed in "dirty tricks", a kingmaker and intriguer, manipulating and crushing the Asians for the greater glory of the American Empire. Sergei Blagov wrote in the Asia Times, "When Lansdale arrived in Saigon in he faced the task of building an alternative to the mosaic of religious armies and criminal gangs that had ruled South Vietnam.

By manipulating payments to the armed groups, Lansdale was able to neutralize most of them. Working under cover, Lansdale was widely credited with almost single-handedly maneuvering Diem to the pinnacle of power. Lansdale expounded what he called the "demotic" strategy, an approach similar to what would be called "winning hearts and minds". However, he simultaneously believed that dirty tricks beget dirty tricks.

When an order appeared wrong, he simply ignored it and went on doing what he thought was right - and frequently it was. The kind of action designed to reduce corners appealed to Lansdale. Lansdale was also a master of deception. As he used to put it: "It's not true, but was something I started. Mea culpa.