The South Vietnamese government was never all that popular. The perception was that it gave too much power to the minority Catholic population.
“The South Vietnamese government was never all that popular. The perception was that it gave too much power to the minority Catholic population”
That was certainly President Kennedy’s opinion. So he approved of a coup d’etat against President Diem that resulted in Diem’s assassination and the decapitation of the government of South Vietnam three weeks before JFK himself was killed.
Hanoi could hardly believe their good fortune when Diem was killed. South Vietnam was left in chaos for years with a revolving door of failed governments. The murder of Diem contributed to Lyndon Johnson’s decision to deploy American ground combat troops in South Vietnam, although without consulting the JCS on what they should do.