Word: diem
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Because he believes one great man makes the difference, Lee blames the Eisenhower administration for America's present dilemma, because Eisenhower "permitted Diem to systematically eliminate all alternatives to him." South Vietnam no longer had a pool of talent from which a hero-ruler might emerge. "You can't go talent-scouting for leaders like in a telephone directory," Lee points out; "the British didn't create...
...stopped several times and you should have gotten off," Lee told an audience of 125 at the Dunster House Forum. He cited 1954, 1956, and 1961 as times when the United States could have refused to fight in Vietnam. The killing of Diem, Lee said, was America's last chance for withdrawal, in his view a "far better" policy at that time...
...stressed that the United States must try to find a group of South Vietnamese who can assume leadership. He charged that in 1954 the British and Americans "systematically" eliminated any alternative leadership to Diem...
...sees several reasons for the rising level of political life in South Vietnam, and one of them is Nguyen Cao Ky. In Huntington's previous studies of developing countries, he has often found in the military a primary source of modernizing influence. In the case of Vietnam, he says, Diem was "really the centralizer and the modernizer" but he was unsuccessful in trying to unify a diverse country "from the top down." Ky, Huntington feels, has "natural political flair. He flies planes, he wears purple scarves, everyone has heard of him; he has made a deep impression on the public...
Ignoring the potential threat of this diversity, Huntington says, was what brought about Diem's downfall. By the same token, he adds, the existence of so many groups makes some form of coalition democracy the only kind which can hold the country together. Future stability depends on whether the Thieu-Ky government can accommodate the growing plural consciousness of population it depends on for support. Huntington thinks that there are signs that this may happen...