About Ngo Dinh Diem:
Ngô ?ình Di?m was the first president of South Vietnam (1955–1963). In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Di?m led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-communism, he announced victory after a fraudulent 1955 plebiscite in which he won 600,000 votes from an electorate of only 450,000 and began building a right-wing dictatorship in South Vietnam.