Our Offspring: Nation Building in South Vietnam, 1954-1961

Identifications

Edward Lansdale
Ngo Dinh Diem
APassage of Freedom
The Sects Crisis
Anational referendum
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
American Friends of Vietnam (AFV)
Michigan State group
commercial import program
National Liberation Front (NLF)
agroville program
Pathet Lao

Questions for consideration:

1		Why does the author argue that if the United States had looked all over the world that it Acould not have chosen a less promising place for an experiment in nation building?
2		What were some of the types of warnings issued regarding the Apitfalls of nation building?
3		How did Ngo Dinh Diem become the U.S. choice for the position of premier?
4		What were the major U.S. efforts to build a national and internal security state in South Vietnam? What were the successes and failures in the process?
5		By the late 1950s, Senator Gale McGee proposed that South Vietnam be made a Ashowcase for foreign aid programs? Was this a realistic appraisal according to the author?
6		Why would the author emphasize Athe massive infusion of American aid thus kept South Vietnam alive, but it fostered dependency rather than laying the foundation for a genuine independence?
7		Why does the author argue Athe basic problem of nation building was political?
8		What were the origins of the insurgency in the South? What was the initial attitude of Ho and the North Vietnamese regarding the Viet Cong and how did it change over time?
9		Why does the author argue Athrough luck as much as anything else, the Eisenhower administration kept the Diem regime afloat for six years?