Cauldron of Resistance

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20-50
A01=Jessica M. Chapman
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Jessica M. Chapman
automatic-update
bao dai
bihn xuyen
cao dai
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBJK
Category=JPA
Category=NHF
Category=NHK
Category=NHWR9
cold war geopolitical strategy
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
diem's politics
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
hoa hao
Language_English
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
republic of vietnam
SN=The United States in the World
softlaunch
southern vietnamese politics
vietnamese domestic politics

Product details

  • ISBN 9781501725104
  • Weight: 454g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 15 Apr 2018
  • Publisher: Cornell University Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
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In 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem organized an election to depose chief-of-state Bao Dai, after which he proclaimed himself the first president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam. The United States sanctioned the results of this election, which was widely condemned as fraudulent, and provided substantial economic aid and advice to the RVN. Because of this, Diem is often viewed as a mere puppet of the United States, in service of its Cold War geopolitical strategy. That narrative, Jessica M. Chapman contends in Cauldron of Resistance, grossly oversimplifies the complexity of South Vietnam's domestic politics and, indeed, Diem's own political savvy.

Based on extensive work in Vietnamese, French, and American archives, Chapman offers a detailed account of three crucial years, 1953–1956, during which a new Vietnamese political order was established in the south. It is, in large part, a history of Diem's political ascent as he managed to subdue the former Emperor Bao Dai, the armed Hoa Hao and Cao Dai religious organizations, and the Binh Xuyen crime organization. It is also an unparalleled account of these same outcast political powers, forces that would reemerge as destabilizing political and military actors in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Chapman shows Diem to be an engaged leader whose personalist ideology influenced his vision for the new South Vietnamese state, but also shaped the policies that would spell his demise. Washington's support for Diem because of his staunch anticommunism encouraged him to employ oppressive measures to suppress dissent, thereby contributing to the alienation of his constituency, and helped inspire the organized opposition to his government that would emerge by the late 1950s and eventually lead to the Vietnam War.

Jessica M. Chapman is Assistant Professor of History at Williams College.