Ngo Dinh Diem

Ngo Dinh Diem (1901–63), Vietnamese politician and first president of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Born of a royal Roman Catholic Vietnamese family, he fled into exile after arrest by Ho Chi Minh and the Communist forces (1945). With the division of Vietnam into north and south (1954) he returned and was appointed prime minister and later elected to the presidency (1955). Known for his dictatorial rule and cruelty—especially toward Buddhist monks accused of communist Viet Cong sympathy—his popularity waned. He and his brother and sister-in-law (Ngo Dinh Nhu and Madame Nhu) were assassinated when his regime fell in a coup d'état.

See also: Vietnam.