From 1954, Diem ruled as the autocratic, dictatorial leader of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Diem was a Catholic and found winning over the mainly Buddhist South Vietnamese people difficult. This was not helped by the fact that many high-ranking jobs in government were given to his family and associates. Although Diem enjoyed the financial and diplomatic backing of the USA, he was largely ineffective and was assassinated by his own generals in a coup in 1963.
Ho Chi Minh was a veteran of the Indochina Wars against the French and the leader of Communist North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Known as ‘Uncle Ho’ to the Vietnamese people, Ho sent a message to the country’s people that ‘nothing is as dear to the heart of the Vietnamese as independence and liberation’. The famous route for transporting supplies from north to south, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, was named in his honour. After the successful Tet Offensive of 1968 the US president, Lyndon Johnson, sought peace with Ho and the North Vietnamese.
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