The Asian World - Ngô ??ình Di???m

Ngô Đình Diệm (3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was the first president of South Vietnam (1955–1963) In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-communism, he announced victory after a fraudulent 1955 plebiscite and began building a right-wing dictatorship in South Vietnam. A Roman Catholic, Diệm’s discriminatory policies toward the Republic’s Montagnard natives and the nation’s Buddhist majority were met with protests and non-violent resistance, culminating in the self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức in 1963. Amid religious protests, Diệm lost the backing of his US patrons and was assassinated by Nguyá»…n Văn Nhung, the aide of ARVN General DÆ°Æ¡ng Văn Minh on 2 November 1963, during a coup d’état that deposed his government.