Vietnam was part of Indo-China, a colony of the French. In WWII, the French government fell to Hitler, but in southern France the Germans allowed the formation of Vichy France.  This government continued to manage Indo-China, which consisted of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Toward the end of the war with Germany and Vichy France falling, the Japanese took control of France’s southeast Asia holdings.

Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese, Moscow-trained communist, and leader of the Red Viet Minh, was armed by the U.S. to fight the Japanese. He took this opportunity to build a powerbase in the north of the country and soon fought against returning regular French forces after the war. The French were defeated. It then fell to the U.S. to deal with this communist insurgency.

Vietnam was officially divided into North and South, with Ho in the north. The south and its overwhelmingly Buddhist population, with the active role of the CIA, fell into the hands of a vicious anti-colonialist named Diem, who was also a Catholic. He took power with his avaricious, well-connected, mafia-like family.  His brother in law Nhu was an internationally powerful labor leader, and one of his brothers was a Catholic Bishop with Vatican ties.

Vietnam was a fragmented web of militias and warlords, organized geographically but also through religious sects, family-ties, loyalty to the monarchy, and former associations with the French colonialists. Diem consolidated power and formed a very large secret police force. With CIA help he ended the symbolic role the ancient monarchy through a rigged election. Diem then set about to destroy any potential domestic opposition found among these various groups. Unfortunately, these same militias were the base of anti-communist opposition to Ho in the nation.

Diem divided control of the wealth of South Vietnam among his large family. With assistance of the CIA, he also developed a large, potent lobby in the U.S. This brought him support on the right and the left, and much favorable, but frequently not honest, press coverage. Soon, America’s internationalist establishment gave its full, public support to Diem, and South Vietnam became one large social engineering project with the participation of the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.

Meanwhile Ho launched a communist insurgency in the south, through the National Liberation Front, the “Viet Cong.” They soon dominated much of rural South Vietnam, receiving help from conservative Vietnamese victimized by Diem. America was drawn into the war through the CIA, then military advisors, and finally, after Lyndon Johnson won election, a large deployment of U.S. troops. But supplies from the USSR (often produced by American companies making a profit) and China were allowed to flow into the country unabated.  and many South Vietnamese, despite repeated communist atrocities, hated their own government.

The war had a devasting effect on the confidence of Americans. It led to a large communist-led antiwar movement in this country that would produce thousands of Marxists who would soon fill roles in our government and other major institutions.

More information:

Background to Betrayal: The Tragedy of Vietnam, by Hilaire du Berrier

The Best Enemy Money Can Buy, by Anthony C. Sutton