Miller to Present Talk on "Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Roots of America’s Intervention in the Vietnam War” - 9/24 at 4:30 PM

During the 1950s, U.S. leaders hailed South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem as a model Cold War ally and funneled massive amounts of aid to his regime.  But in 1963, Diem was ousted and assassinated in a coup backed by Washington. This drastic shift in political attitude greatly contributed to the course of the Vietnam War, one of the major events that effected late 20th century American foreign policy.

Edward Miller, an Associate Professor in the Dartmouth College History Department, focuses his studies on American foreign relations, with a special focus on the Vietnam War. His lecture, “Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Roots of America’s Intervention in the Vietnam War” will focus on the tension between Diem’s vision for Vietnamese modernization and the American government’s ideas of reform and development.

Emphasizing the importance of nation building and development in light of the military coup that led to Diem’s death, Miller will explore the combination of a shrewd, ruthless leader, rising internal resistance, and American influence that ultimately fractured an alliance and changed the result of the Vietnam War.

Please join us for Edward Miller’s talk, “Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Roots of America’s Intervention in the Vietnam War” at Rockefeller 003 at 4:30 pm, Tuesday September 24, 2013.

Co-sponsored with the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding