Vietnam War

===Rule===
[[File:Ngo Dinh Diem at Washington - ARC 542189.jpg|thumb|U.S. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] greet President [[Ngô Đình Diệm]] of [[South Vietnam]] in Washington, 8 May 1957]]

A devout [[Roman Catholic]], Diệm was fervently anti-communist, nationalist, and socially conservative. Historian Luu Doan Huynh notes that "Diệm represented narrow and extremist nationalism coupled with autocracy and [[nepotism]]."<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|200–201}} Most Vietnamese people were [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], and they were alarmed by Diệm's actions, like his dedication of the country to the [[Virgin Mary]].

Beginning in the summer of 1955, Diệm launched the "Denounce the Communists" campaign, during which suspected communists and other anti-government elements were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or executed. He instituted the death penalty against any activity deemed communist in August 1956.<ref name="WarBegan" /> The North Vietnamese government claimed that, by November 1957, over 65,000 individuals were imprisoned and 2,148 were killed in the process.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Robert F. |title=Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development |date=1975 |publisher=[[Hoover Institution]] Publications |isbn=978-0817964313 |pages=174–178}}</ref> According to [[Gabriel Kolko]], 40,000 [[political prisoner]]s had been jailed by the end of 1958.<ref name=Kolko/>{{Rp|89}}

In October 1956, Diệm launched a [[Land reform in South Vietnam|land reform program]] limiting the size of rice farms per owner. More than 1.8m acres of farm land became available for purchase by landless people. By 1960, the land reform process had stalled because many of Diem's biggest supporters were large land owners.<ref name="Collision">{{Cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/collisionofcultu00doyl |title=The Vietnam Experience, a Collision of Cultures |last2=Weiss |first2=Stephen |date=1984 |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |isbn=978-0939526123 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|14–16}}

In May 1957, Diệm undertook a [[Ngô Đình Diệm presidential visit to the United States|ten-day state visit to the United States]]. President Eisenhower pledged his continued support, and a parade was held in Diệm's honor in New York City. Although Diệm was publicly praised, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles privately conceded that Diệm had to be backed because they could find no better alternative.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|230}}