The lost mandate of heaven : the American betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam

Authors:Geoffrey D. T. Shaw (Author), James V. Schall, OverDrive, Inc (Distributor)

Summary:"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

eBook, English, 2015

Edition:View all formats and editions

Publisher: Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2015

Physical Description:1 online resource

ISBN:

9781681496863, 1681496860

OCLC Number / Unique Identifier:1091173836

Subjects:

1961-1975

Assassination

Diplomatic relations

États-Unis Relations extérieures Viêt-nam