State of Vietnam referendum, 1955
Encyclopedia
Form of government
A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized. Synonyms include "regime type" and "system of government".-Empirical and conceptual problems:...
of the State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
, the nation that was to become the Republic of Vietnam (widely known as South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
). It was contested by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm, who proposed a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
, and former emperor Bảo Đại
Bao Dai
Bảo Đại , born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy , was the 13th and last ruler of the Nguyễn dynasty. From 1926 to 1945, he was king of Annam under French ‘protection’. During this period, Annam was a protectorate within French Indochina, covering the central two-thirds of the present-day Vietnam...
. Bảo Đại had abdicated as emperor in 1945 and at the time of the referendum held the title of head of state. Diệm won the election, which was widely marred by electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
, with 98.2% of the vote. In the capital Saigon, Diệm was credited with over 600,000 votes, even though only 450,000 people were on the electoral roll. He accumulated tallies in excess of 90% of the registered voters, even in rural regions where opposition groups prevented voting.
The referendum was the last phase in the power struggle between Bảo Đại and his prime minister. Bảo Đại disliked Diem and had frequently attempted to undermine him, having appointed him only because he was a conduit to American aid. During the period, the country was going through a period of insecurity, as Vietnam had been temporarily partitioned as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
that ended the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
. The State of Vietnam controlled the southern half of the country, pending national elections that would reunify the country under a common government. The Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
was not in full control of the country, with the Cao Dai
Cao Dai
Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ...
and Hoa Hao
Hoa Hao
Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương...
religious sects running their own administrations in the countryside with their private armies, while the Binh Xuyen
Binh Xuyen
Bình Xuyên, often linked to its infamous leader, General Le van "Bay" Vien, was an independent military force within the Vietnamese National Army whose leaders once had lived outside the law and had sided with the Viet Minh...
organised crime syndicate controlled the streets of Saigon. Despite Bảo Đại’s interference, Diem had managed to subdue the private armies and enforce government over the country by mid-1955.
Emboldened by his success, Diem began to plot Bảo Đại’s downfall. He scheduled a referendum for October 23, 1955, and pushed Bảo Đại out of the political scene, despite the former emperor’s attempts to derail the poll. In the period leading up to the vote, campaigning for Bảo Đại was banned, while Diem’s election campaign focused on personal attacks against Bảo Đại. These included pornographic cartoons of the head of state and unverified rumours claiming that he was illegitimate and linking him to various mistresses. The government-controlled media launched polemical attacks on Bảo Đại, and police went door-to-door, warning people of the consequences of failing to vote. After his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu
Ngo Dinh Nhu
Ngô Ðình Nhu was the younger brother and chief political advisor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Ðình Diệm. Nhu was widely regarded as the architect of the Ngô family's nepotistic and autocratic rule over South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963...
successfully rigged the poll, Diem proclaimed himself president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam.
Background
The defeat of the French ArmyFrench Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
at Dien Bien Phu
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
in 1954, followed by the Geneva Accords
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
, led to a divided Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The French-backed State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
led by former Emperor Bao Dai
Bao Dai
Bảo Đại , born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy , was the 13th and last ruler of the Nguyễn dynasty. From 1926 to 1945, he was king of Annam under French ‘protection’. During this period, Annam was a protectorate within French Indochina, covering the central two-thirds of the present-day Vietnam...
, provisionally held control south of the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
's Vietminh held the north under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which Ho had proclaimed in 1945. The agreements stated that nation-wide elections were to be held in 1956 to unify the country under a common government. In July 1954, during the transition period, Bao Dai appointed Diem as Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam. On October 11, 1954, the border was closed by the International Control Commission
International Control Commission
The International Control Commission , formally called the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Vietnam , was an international force established in 1954 that oversaw the implementation of the Geneva Accords that ended the First Indochina War with the Partition of Vietnam. It...
, after a period of 300 days during which free passage between both halves of Vietnam had been allowed. Under the Geneva Accords, anti-communist military personnel were obliged to evacuate to the south, while communist forces were to be moved north. Civilians were free to move to whichever zone they preferred. During the 300 days, the Catholic Diem and his US CIA adviser Colonel Edward Lansdale
Edward Lansdale
Edward Geary Lansdale was a United States Air Force officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency. He rose to the rank of Major General and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1963. He was an early proponent of more aggressive US actions in...
staged a campaign to convince people to move to South Vietnam. The campaign was particularly focused on Catholics, who were to provide Diem's power base in his later years, with the use of the slogan "God has gone south". Between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people migrated to the south, mostly Catholics. At the start of 1955, French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
was dissolved, leaving Diem in temporary control of the south.
At the time, Diem had little authority beyond the gates of his own palace. Bao Dai had little confidence in him and gave him meagre support—the pair had clashed in the past, with Diem resigning as Bao Dai's Interior Minister two decades earlier, believing the head of state to be weak and ineffective. Most historians believe that Bao Dai selected Diem because of his ability to attract US support and funding. During the transition period, the French Expeditionary Corps maintained a presence in South Vietnam. This led to tension between France and the State of Vietnam; Diem—a passionate nationalist—detested the French, who returned his feelings and hoped that he would fail, even calling for his removal on occasions.
Diem faced challenges to his authority from four more groups. The Hoa Hao
Hoa Hao
Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương...
and Cao Dai
Cao Dai
Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ...
religious sects had private armies that controlled the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
and the areas west of Saigon, respectively. The Binh Xuyen
Binh Xuyen
Bình Xuyên, often linked to its infamous leader, General Le van "Bay" Vien, was an independent military force within the Vietnamese National Army whose leaders once had lived outside the law and had sided with the Viet Minh...
was an armed, organised crime empire that controlled much of Saigon with a 40,000 strong private army, while the Vietminh still controlled much of the rural area. Diem's Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
(VNA) was led by General Nguyen Van Hinh
Nguyen Van Hinh
Nguyễn Văn Hinh , was appointed the Vietnamese National Army Chief of Staff by Emperor Bảo Đại. On November 8, 1954, after the First Indochina War he left South Vietnam in exile for France....
, a French citizen who loathed and frequently disobeyed him. To make matters worse, Bao Dai sold the operating license of the national police to the Binh Xuyen, thereby putting administrative control of the police in the hands of a crime syndicate.
Amid growing French and US skepticism of his ability to provide stable rule, Diem forced the matter to a head in April 1955. He ordered the Binh Xuyen to relinquish control of the National Police and submit to his command by integrating into the VNA or disbanding, threatening to crush them if they refused. He bribed Hoa Hao and Cao Dai commanders into joining the VNA, gradually resulting in the defection of some commanders and their units, while others continued to lead their forces against Saigon. The Binh Xuyen defied Diem's ultimatum and on April 27, the VNA initiated the Battle for Saigon
Battle for Saigon
The Battle for Saigon was a month-long battle between the Vietnamese National Army of the State of Vietnam and the private army of the Binh Xuyen organised crime syndicate...
. After a brief but violent battle that left between 500 and 1,000 people dead and about 20,000 homeless, the Binh Xuyen were crushed. Diem had regained both US confidence and control of the police. Jubilant crowds lauded Diem and denounced Bao Dai, who had tried to dismiss him in the middle of the battle to prevent him from quelling the Binh Xuyen. In addition, General Paul Ely, the head of the French presence in Vietnam, tried to impede Diem, and his troops put road blocks against the VNA and gave intelligence to the Binh Xuyen.
Buoyed by his successes, and fuelled by increased hatred of the French and Bao Dai after their attempts to prevent him from dismantling the Binh Xuyen, Diem became more confident as he went about consolidating his hold on power. On May 15, Diem abolished Bao Dai's Imperial Guard; its 5,000 men became the 11th and 42nd Infantry Regiments of the VNA. Diem then stripped Bao Dai of his extensive crown lands. On June 15, Diem had the Council of the Royal Family at Hue declare that Bao Dai be stripped of his powers, and that he, Diem, be made president. Bao Dai's relatives condemned him for abdicating as head of state in favour of Ho in 1945, which they described as a crime against the nation, and excoriated him for his links with France and the Binh Xuyen. Historians have speculated that the royals agreed to turn on Bao Dai so that Diem would not seize their assets.
Organization of the referendum
A month earlier, Prime Minister of North Vietnam, Pham Van Dong
Pham Van Dong
Phạm Văn Đồng was an associate of Ho Chi Minh. He served as prime minister of North Vietnam from 1955 through 1976, and was prime minister of a unified Vietnam from 1976 until he retired in 1987.- Early life :...
, wrote to Saigon asking to begin negotiations over the specific details of the elections. While the Americans were happy to avoid elections because of fears of a communist victory, they hoped that Diem would enter the dialogue over planning matters and wait for North Vietnam to object to a proposal, and thus use it to blame Ho for violating the Geneva Accords. The Americans had earlier advised Diem, who had been acting in defiance of Bao Dai, that continued aid was contingent on Diem establishing a legal basis for usurping the head of state's power.
On October 6, Diem announced that the referendum would be held on October 23. The election was open to men and women aged 18 or over, and the government arranged to have a polling station set up for every 1,000 registered voters. The poll was contested by former Emperor Bao Dai, who had spent much of his time in France and advocated a monarchy, and Diem, who ran on a republican platform. According to historian Jessica Chapman, it was a choice between "the country's obsolete emperor and its far-from-popular prime minister, Ngo Dinh Diem". In announcing the referendum, Diem portrayed his decision as being motivated by a love of democracy and popular discontent with the rule of Bao Dai. The prime minister cited a plethora of petitions from various social, religious and political groups calling on him to stage a plebiscite to remove Bao Dai and said that he was motivated by these "legitimate and democratic" sentiments. However, it is believed that the petitions were not sincere and were either coerced or made for political reasons.
Lansdale cautioned Diem against using electoral fraud, believing that he would win a free election, stating "While I'm away I don't want to suddenly read that you have won by 99.99%. I would know that it's rigged then." American officials thought that a fair election would have seen Diem poll around 60–70% of the vote.
Under the Elysee Accords and the subsequent legislation that created the State of Vietnam in 1949, Bao Dai's position as head of state was neither permanent nor indefinite. Sovereignty was presumed to rest solely upon the people, with Bao Dai being a mere conduit. As a result, the referendum itself was within the law. Diem had not been elected to his post, so he saw the referendum as an opportunity to rebuff opponents, who claimed that he was undemocratic and autocratic. The event also gave Diem an opportunity to boost his prestige by defeating Bao Dai in a head-to-head contest. It was previously agreed that a National Assembly would be elected first, but Diem went ahead with the plebiscite, which meant that he would have total power if he deposed Bao Dai before a legislature was formed.
US diplomats were concerned that the move would be seen as a power grab, as Diem was organising and driving an electoral process in which he was a candidate. The Americans felt that a legislature should be formed first and that the body should oversee the referendum, but Diem ignored their advice. Ambassador G. Frederick Reinhardt
G. Frederick Reinhardt
George Frederick "Fred" Reinhardt was an American diplomat during the middle third of the 20th century.He was born in Berkeley, California, and matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity, graduating in 1933. Reinhardt was the U.S...
informed Washington that Diem had no intention of allowing a level playing field for the opposition, and that the foreign press had already made much of Diem's democratic pronouncements being a facade. The Department of State agreed and opted to avoid trumpeting the referendum as an exercise in democracy for fear of attracting negative reactions to their foreign policy. Nevertheless, the US were pleased with the referendum, as they saw it as an opportunity to strengthen South Vietnam and avoid defeat to the communists, as they saw a republican model as being more robust.
Having declared his disdain for the 1956 reunification elections, Diem saw the referendum as the first step in creating a long-term state to rule over South Vietnam. He repeatedly said that the creation of a legislature and a constitution for his new state would follow the referendum. Diem saw the poll as an opportunity to legitimise him as a symbol of Vietnamese democracy, so that he could frame and justify his refusal to participate in national elections as a struggle between freedom and communist authoritarianism. Diem asserted that South Vietnam would eventually reunify the nation under a democratic administration and liberate their northern compatriots from communist oppression, and championed the referendum as a first step in nurturing democracy. Diem's support base was to use this as a means of justifying the deposal of Bao Dai, citing past decisions that according to them, were pro-communist.
One of Diem's themes was that the referendum would usher in a new era of unprecedented democracy. He said "This shall be but the first step made by our people in the free use of our political rights." The day before the poll, Diem said that "This 23 October, for the first time in our country's history, our men and women will exercise one of many basic civil rights of a democracy, the right to vote." A government proclamation four days before the poll said "Dear compatriots, proclaim your will forcefully! Go forward firmly in the path of Freedom, Independence and Democracy!"
Campaign
Diem ran a personal attack campaign against the head of state, for whom campaigning was prohibited. The army and national police went about enforcing the ban on pro-Bao Dai and anti-Diem activities. Police went from door to door, explaining the consequences of failing to vote. They also organized conferences in rural villages and addressed the populace with loudspeakers. In general, Diem's line of attack was to portray Bao Dai as a drunken womanizer who was preoccupied with immoral pleasures and unconcerned with the problems of the populace. Vietnam's monarchic tradition was built on ConfucianismConfucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
and the emperor's mandate of heaven
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven is a traditional Chinese philosophical concept concerning the legitimacy of rulers. It is similar to the European concept of the divine right of kings, in that both sought to legitimaze rule from divine approval; however, unlike the divine right of kings, the Mandate of...
, and Diem's campaign sought to prove that Bao Dai had lost this mandate through his debauched lifestyle. According to Joseph Buttinger
Joseph Buttinger
Joseph Buttinger was an Austrian politician and, after his immigration to the United States, an expert on East Asia....
, who was based in Vietnam as the second in command at the International Rescue Committee
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee is a leading nonsectarian, nongovernmental international relief and development organization based in the United States, with operations in over 40 countries...
, the methods used to influence the poll were "outrageous". Donald Lancaster, a journalist who covered the poll, said "Whereas Bao Dai was given no opportunity to defend himself, the government-controlled press proceeded to overwhelm him with scurrilous abuse." Diem also banned Bao Dai from entering the State of Vietnam.
Diem's advertising included the parading of giant pageant-style floats of Bao Dai through the streets of Saigon, depicted with bags of money on his shoulders, a deck of cards in his hands, and with naked blonde women and bottles of cognac
Cognac
Cognac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Cognac is situated on the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Saintes. The majority of the town has been built on the river's left bank, with the smaller right...
in his arms. This was a reference to the head of state's reputation for opulence, gambling and womanising. In particular, the blonde hair referred to Bao Dai's penchance for European mistresses with whom he liaised with on the French Riviera. Bao Dai's dummy was accompanied by a that of a Frenchman putting gold into his pockets, thereby questioning his nationalist credentials. Posters and effigies associating Bao Dai with a pig's head were disseminated, while a prominent newspaper composed and encouraged the people to sing polemical and insulting songs about the head of state.
Walls and public transport vehicles were plastered with slogans, including "Beware of the evil king Bao Dai's preference for gambling, women, wine, milk, and butter. Those who vote for him betray their country." Aside from referring to his opulent lifestyle, other slogans such as "Bao Dai, puppet king selling his country", and "Bao Dai, master keeper of gambling dens and brothels", also referred to his alleged softness towards the communists. The radio was also used to verbally abuse Bao Dai, who was accused of treason and corruption in these broadcasts.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Diem was described as the "hero of the people" and "father of all children". The slogans exhorted the populace to vote for the prime minister because "To vote for the revolutionary man Ngo Dinh Diem is to build a society of welfare and justice". They portrayed Diem as a patriotic and nationalist anti-communist, proclaiming "To kill communists, depose the king, [and] struggle against colonialists is a citizen's duty in Free Vietnam".
Diem's government-controlled press overwhelmed Bao Dai with endless personal propaganda attacks, with special editions of newspapers being devoted to polemical biographical accounts of the former emperor. This allowed Diem's campaign to condemn Bao Dai with much more salacious detail than was possible through slogans. This started in August when the daily newspaper Thoi Dai started a three week series that disseminated unsubstantiated and scandalous details about Bao Dai's life, especially his relationships. These were written by editorialist Hong Van, who called the head of state a "dung beetle who sold his country for personal glory".
Hong Van firstly claimed that Bao Dai was an illegitimate son of Emperor Khai Dinh
Khai Dinh
Emperor Khải Định was the 12th Emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty in Vietnam. His name at birth was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo. He was the son of Emperor Đồng Khánh, but he did not succeed him immediately...
. He alleged that Khai Dinh was infertile and had married a maid, before claiming the maid's son—who purportedly fell pregnant to another man—as his own. The paper claimed that Bao Dai was "big like a lubber, had many children, and was very fond of women" while Khai Dinh was uncomfortable with females, hinting that the different personalities were inconsistent with a common biological lineage.
Capitalising on anti-French sentiment, the paper went on to discuss Bao Dai's upbringing in France, claiming that he was already womanising as a teenager because of his European upbringing. Bao Dai later married a ethnic-Vietnamese French citizen, who became Empress Nam Phuong
Nam Phuong
Empress Nam Phương , born Marie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan, later Imperial Princess Nam Phương, was the first and primary wife of Bảo Đại, the last king of Annam and last emperor of Vietnam, from 1934 until her death...
. The editorial accused Nam Phuong of being an agent loyal to France and claimed that she had treated the queen mother badly, a serious character fault as Confucianism strongly emphasized respect for family elders. Hong Van went on to claim that Bao Dai's sequence of Gallic lovers was an indication that colonial officials were successfully using sex to turn the head of state into a French puppet.
The culmination of the newspaper campaign was a satirical pornographic cartoon titled "The Story of Bao Dai". It summarized the scandalous depictions of the head of state made by Thoi Dai in the preceding weeks and was published on October 19, four days before the referendum. The pictures featured full frontal nude depictions of Bao Dai and his mistresses, with genitalia clearly visible, including one frame that showed a naked blonde performing an erotic dance for the head of state.
Aside from painting Bao Dai as a sexually insatiable glutton, Diem's campaign also attacked the head of state's nationalist credentials. They criticised him as being too soft in his dealings with French colonial authorities, and for serving as the head of state of the Empire of Vietnam
Empire of Vietnam
The Empire of Vietnam was a short-lived puppet state of Imperial Japan governing the whole of Vietnam between March 11 and August 23, 1945.-History:...
, a puppet regime set up by Imperial Japan after they invaded during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. They also accused him of ceding half the country to the communists. The communists had already captured more than half the country on the battlefield, and Bao Dai claimed that he had no choice, but Diem's campaign portrayed him as incompetent and unwilling to take the blame. As a further example, Diem's supporters pointed to a September 1955 interview in which Bao Dai admitted to keeping in contact with the communist leadership. Bao Dai was further criticised for supporting the various sects, and accused of helping the French citizen General Hinh in his attempted coup against Diem.
Diem used the Ministry of Information's electoral education campaign as a partisan political tool. Instead of using it purely to explain the democratic process, the campaign was used to extol Diem and his allies. After explaining what democracy was, a pamphlet outlined why "Deposing a chief-of-state is a vital act", After elaborating on the powers of the head of state, the pamphlet went on to champion Diem as an anti-communist who could defend people's freedom, while explaining why Bao Dai was unfit to lead, saying that he did not have respect among the international community.
Response of Bao Dai
On October 15, Bao Dai issued a statement protesting against the referendum. He further urged the governments of France, the United Kingdom, the United States, India and even the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
not to recognise Diem, asserting that he was an obstacle to the reunification of Vietnam under the Geneva Accords. He accused Diem's poll of being "a governmental activity which conforms neither to the profound sentiment of the Vietnamese people nor to the common cause of peace".
On October 18, Bao Dai made the token gesture of formally dismissing Diem. On October 19, he denounced "the police methods" of Diem's "dictatorship" and warned the Vietnamese populace "against a regime that was bound to lead them to ruin, famine, and war". Bao Dai accused Diem of trying to foment conflict between the French and the Americans. On the eve of the poll, Bao Dai stated "I can even tell you that I know the percentage of favourable votes that Mr. Diem has decided to obtain". With no means of propagating his views inside Vietnam, Bao Dai's actions had little effect.
Other opposition
The staging of the election was subsidised by foreign funding. The United States government and a combination of American Catholic charities contributed USD2 million each. Ba CutBa Cut
Lê Quang Vinh , popularly known as Ba Cụt , was a military commander of the Hòa Hảo religious sect, which operated from the Mekong Delta and controlled various parts of southern Vietnam during the 1940s and early 1950s.Ba Cụt and his forces fought the Vietnamese National Army , the...
, a leader of an anti-government Hoa Hao
Hoa Hao
Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương...
militant group, distributed a pamphlet condemning Diem as an American puppet, citing the funding as proof and further asserting that Diem was going to "Catholicize" the country. The Vietnamese Socialist Party, which was affiliated to the Hoa Hao, claimed that Diem "bribed the world of laborers and young students to petition in support of Diem's rise to chief-of-state and to petition in favor of deposing Bao Dai" using the American election funding. Another Hoa Hao rebel leader, General Tran Van Soai, assailed Diem as being undemocratic regime and declared the referendum illegal. He invited "friendly countries and the people of Vietnam to distrust this political maneuver". Opponents claimed that Diem's declarations about the value of democracy were hollow. Diem had earlier told a cabinet minister that only one political party—Nhu's outfit, and went about eradicating opposition by force.
Logistics and voting
Lansdale advised Diem to print his ballots in red, while those of Bao Dai were printed in green. In Vietnam, red is associated with good luck and prosperity, whereas green is often associated with a cuckoldCuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
and bad luck. Diem's red ballots pictured him with youthful and modern-looking people, while Bao Dai's photo was placed in old fashioned robes, which he never wore. In addition, Bao Dai's portrait showed him to appear dazed and bloated, while Diem and those surrounding him were smiling and appeared to be energetic. The ballot claimed that a vote for Diem would be a vote for democracy, stating "I depose Bao Dai and recognise Ngo Dinh Diem as Head of State, charged with the commission of setting up a democratic regime". Bao Dai's ballot read "I do not depose Bao Dai and do not regard Ngo Dinh Diem as the Head of State charged with the commission of setting up a democratic regime". The voters would place the red or green ballot into the box, according to their preference, while discarding the other. This meant that the voting was actually not secret. The use of such methods undermined Diem's later attempts to portray his regime as being morally motivated.
Can Lao Party
The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...
, which supplied the Ngos' electoral base. Reports of violence and intimidation were widespread. During the referendum, Nhu's staff told voters to throw away the green ballots. Those who disobeyed were often chased down and beaten, with pepper sauce and water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
sometimes being forced into their nostrils. The violations were particularly flagrant in central Vietnam, a region over which another of Diem's younger brothers, Ngo Dinh Can
Ngo Dinh Can
Ngô Đình Cẩn was a younger brother and confidant of South Vietnam’s first president, Ngo Dinh Diem, and an important member of the Diem government. Diem put Cẩn in charge of central Vietnam, stretching from Phan Thiết in the south to the border at the 17th parallel, with Cẩn ruling the region as...
, ruled. Can was based in the former imperial capital city of Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
, which was the home of the Nguyen Dynasty and a source of sympathy towards Bao Dai. He stifled this support by ordering the police to arrest 1,200 people for political reasons in the week leading up to the vote. In the city of Hoi An
Hoi An
Hội An , or rarely Faifo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is located in Quang Nam province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants...
, some people were killed in election violence on the day of the poll. Voting started at 7:00 in the morning and ended at 5:00 in the afternoon.
Counting and results
Diem's government formulated procedural regulations that were meant to ensure that results and ballots were correctly accounted for and to prevent election fraud. In reality however, the votes were counted without independent supervision, which resulted in Diem being credited with 98.2% of the vote. The prime minister tallied 605,025 votes in Saigon, although only 450,000 voters were registered in the capital. Diem's tally exceeded the registration numbers in other districts. French newspapers claimed that only half of the registered voters in Saigon had actually voted, and that the rest had boycotted the election, implying that more than 60% of the votes in the capital were not authentic. Defenders of Diem have speculated that this was due to recently arrived refugees from North Vietnam who voted without being enrolled, rather than large-scale ballot stuffingBallot stuffing
Ballot stuffing is the illegal act of one person submitting multiple ballots during a vote in which only one ballot per person is permitted. The name originates from the earliest days of this practice in which people literally did stuff more than one ballot in a ballot box at the same time...
. Diem's regime had announced that 5,335,668 people were eligible to vote, but when the results were declared, there were 5,784,752 ballots. Diem's government claimed that his candidacy had been endorsed by Bao Dai's mother, even though Diem had ordered the military to confiscate her family's property and evicted her from the land.
The near unanimous voter turnout and support for Diem was replicated in highland and Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
swamp areas, which were not even under the control of the government and its Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
. In some districts of the Mekong Delta, overwhelming tallies for Diem in excess of 90% of the registered voters were recorded, even though the Hoa Hao
Hoa Hao
Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương...
warlord Ba Cut
Ba Cut
Lê Quang Vinh , popularly known as Ba Cụt , was a military commander of the Hòa Hảo religious sect, which operated from the Mekong Delta and controlled various parts of southern Vietnam during the 1940s and early 1950s.Ba Cụt and his forces fought the Vietnamese National Army , the...
and his army had prevented voting.
The referendum was widely condemned for being fraudulent in a similar way to communist show elections. Chapman said that "Even Diem apologists like Anthony Trawick Bouscaren and American CIA officer Edward Lansdale concur with the prime minister's harshest critics on the conclusion that the South Vietnamese government was either incapable of or unwilling to hold a truly free, representative plebiscite". Many analysts regard the vote as the first notable demonstration of Diem's authoritarian streak.
A CIA report written in 1966 adjudged the poll to be the most heavily manipulated in the first 11 years of South Vietnam's history. The US government privately concluded that the monopoly that Diem had on the media and the election campaign was a greater factor in the victory than intimidation and the fact that the voting was effectively public. Reinhardt cabled Washington, saying that the "referendum proved [a] resounding success for [the] Diem government". He also indicated that the poll results were not necessarily a reflection of reality by adding that the result did not show that Diem had majority support but that he was able to control the country, effectively unchallenged. The US government was heartened by Diem's apparent ability to negate communist and other opposition.
The scholar Bernard B. Fall
Bernard B. Fall
Bernard B. Fall was a prominent war correspondent, historian, political scientist, and expert on Indochina during the 1950s and 1960s...
stated that "there is not the slightest doubt that this plebiscite was only a shade more fraudulent than most electoral tests under a dictatorship". The American journalist Stanley Karnow
Stanley Karnow
Stanley Karnow is an American journalist and historian.After serving with the United States Army Air Forces in Asia during World War II, he graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in 1947; in 1947 and 1948 he attended the Sorbonne, and from 1948 to 1949 the Institut d'Études Politiques de...
cited the dubious plebiscite as evidence of Diem's "mandarin mentality". Chapman said that "no amount of unilateral campaigning, anti-Bao Dai sentiment, or Confucian political restraint could explain Diem's 98 percent margin of victory in a politically heterogeneous South Vietnam. Corruption and intimidation must have played a significant role." Buttinger said that while the monarchy was "another rotten relic of Vietnam's past" and Bao Dai was "its last, unworthy representative", the fraud and intimidation was unnecessary as Diem was always going to win easily. The historian David Anderson said that the victory "was not a true representation of Diem's power or popularity. The emperor's weakness, the disarray of the political opposition, and other such factors explain his triumph", while Seth Jacobs said that "nothing demonstrated Diem's disinterest in democratic processes more vividly [than the flagrantly fraudulent referendum".
Reaction and aftermath
Three days after the vote, Diem proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Vietnam, naming himself as its president. Diem said "The October23rd plebiscite in which [the people of South Vietnam] took such an enthusiastic part, constitutes an approval of the policies pursued thus far and at the same time augurs a whole new era for the future of our country." Diem again reiterated that he would not partake in national reunification elections, saying that they would be futile unless "true liberty" came about in the communist North Vietnam. This impressed American observers, who feared a total communist takeover.
Having claimed that the election was entirely without irregularities, the United States government hailed Diem as a new hero of the "free world". Senator Mike Mansfield
Mike Mansfield
Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...
of Montana said the referendum "was a reflection of their [the Vietnamese people's] search for a leader who would respond to their needs ... they sensed that Diem could provide that kind of leadership." Mansfield had been a professor of Asian history before entering politics; as a result his opinions about Vietnam were more influential and held in high regard by his fellow senators. Archives of policy discussions show that the Americans were concerned more about the negative image created by Diem's autocratic and antidemocratic style among the international community, rather than the its possible effects on national cohesion. The US State Department spokesman said "the people of Viet-Nam have spoken, and we, of course, recognise their decision!!" An official congratulatory statement from the department said "The Department of State is gratified that according to reports the referendum was conducted in such an orderly and efficient manner and that the people of Viet-Nam have made their choice unmistakably clear. we look forward to a continuation of the friendly relations between the Government of Viet-Nam and the United States."
Reaction to Diem's victory among the American press varied with geographic location. Newspapers in the Midwest hailed Diem's win as a triumph for democracy and extolled the new president as a champion of democracy. However, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said that the extreme margin of victory made "Diem's administrative control look more pervasive than is thought to be the case by a number of observers here." However, the paper also claimed the poll a "sound democratic procedure" and a "public tribute to a strong-willed leader". Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
called it an "overwhleming endorsement" and dubbed Diem a "beacon of light, showing the way to free people".
Diem's victory was seen as a blow to French stature in Vietnam, as the former colonial power had helped to set up Bao Dai's State of Vietnam in 1949. They had also consistently opposed Diem and his policies, and had unsuccessfully tried to impede him. The American media regarded Diem's victory as a signal that the United States would be the only Western power in South Vietnam. Some felt that this would enable Diem to rule effectively without French hindrance, while others felt that this would leave too much of a burden on the American government.
The French media and diplomatic corps viewed the result as a humiliation. Before the poll, French officials had privately predicted that Diem would dissolve the French High Command and use a victory as justification for scrapping the national reunification elections. The French media viewed the poll as undemocratic and a plot by the Americans to sabotage any prospect of national reunification, However, France recognised the Republic of Vietnam soon after.
Diem severed economic relations with France and withdrew from the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
after his victory. Neither the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
nor communist China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
overtly objected to Diem's actions in creating a new state in southern half of Vietnam. Nevertheless, by the time of Diem's deposal
1963 South Vietnamese coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...
and assassination in 1963, France bought 46.3% of South Vietnam's exports and accounted for most of the foreign investment in the country. French cultural influences and the language remained prevalent.
In January 1956, with no legislature and constitution in place, Diem used his absolute power to dissolve the Revolutionary Council by launching police raids on the members, forcing those from the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai who had rallied to his side to go on the run. As a result, they turned against him.