The
paper reviews the
life of Ngo Dinh Diem as a means to understanding the causes of the Vietnam
war. After touching on Diem's early life and rise to the premiership, the paper focuses on his correspondence with the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. The paper analyzes Diem's and his brother Nhu's campaign of deception against the American government in order to secure more funds for their personal use. The paper ends with their death, and concludes that following their build up of the threat of war, and Kennedy's subsequent assassination, there was no more possibility of a peaceful solution.