The Buddhist and South Vietnam Government Conflict 

The 1960's was a trying time in South Vietnam with not only the Vietnam War escalating but the conflict between the government of South Vietnam and the practicing Buddhists of the country as well. Both sides battled over religious freedoms and the Buddhists wanted to be able to practice their religion without being persecuted. Each side didn't want to budge and both sides would show that they were willing to stop at nothing to get their views expressed to the masses. Many bloody and sad events took place over a span of several months and in the end many things would change but there would still be many things left unanswered.

            During the 1960’s the war in Vietnam was starting to escalate from not only outside causes but from internal issues as well. One internal factor was fought between the South Vietnam government lead by Ngô Đình Diệm who was a practicing Roman Catholic and the high population of Buddhists living in South Vietnam (Moyer 2004 ). The high number of practicing Buddhists in the country didn’t agree with the political and religious actions being done by Ngo Dinh Diem and the South Vietnamese government. This in turn led to conflicts between the government and the Buddhists and at the end of this conflict many things were different in South Vietnam including a coup that overthrew the Ngo Dinh Diem government as well as other things (Browne 2003). There were many things that led to the coup that were parts of the overall conflict but there were three things in my opinion that are the things that led to the coup and the escalation of the Vietnam war. The first incident was when a group of Buddhists were protesting their right to fly the Buddhist flag for a religious event and when things started to get out of hand the government fired their weapons into the crowd killing 9 and wounding many others (Goodman 1970). The second incident was when Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death in the middle of a busy intersection in South Vietnam (Goodman 1970). The third and final incident happened after months of things happening in South Vietnam involving Buddhists and the government which caused the Kennedy administration to take notice and have a subtle hand in the overthrowing of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime (Library 2015).

            The first incident that took place happened on May 8^th in Hue South Vietnam this was not only a major event this was the first event in the conflict as well. There was already tension among Buddhists and the Roman Catholic practicing government over how the Buddhists were allowed to practice their religion. The government had issued a law stating that you couldn’t fly a religious flag and this upset the Buddhists because they weren’t allowed to fly the flag on Vesak which is the birthday of Gautama Buddha (Ferraro 1963). This incident was escalated because not even a week earlier the government flew the Vatican flag at a ceremony for a religious official and there was no problem with them doing that yet the Buddhist weren’t allowed to fly their flag of their religion on a religious holiday. For this many Buddhists protesters took to the street and starting marching in protest against the government and the wrong that they were doing to the people of the Buddhist faith. As the protesters started making their way to busier roads and closer to areas where they could be seen and even joined by other Buddhists the police and army broke it up by firing into the crowd, this resulted in 9 protesters being killed and many others being wounded (Roberts 1966). This was the start of the end for the Ngo Dinh Diem government and not probably seen at the time but also a possible reason for the escalation of the Vietnam War (Patricia Rushton 2005). 

            The second incident that took place happened shortly after the protests in Hue, this event happened on June 11^th when Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death in front of a large crowd in the middle of a busy intersection in South Vietnam (King 2000). The monk was doing this to protest the unjust on uncivil acts being done to the people of the Buddhist religion by the people in the South Vietnam government. Buddhists had been traveling around for days and days protesting in many different places in South Vietnam and they were doing so in many different fashions but no one expected what was to come with the event that happened with the Monk. This event was such a major one because it was captured by a western news agency which in turn showed the whole world the tragedies that were happening in South Vietnam and the Buddhists fight against the government and the costs they were willing to take to get their message out that they wanted their religious and political freedoms just like everyone else (Smith 1970). The pictures captured of the burning monk were the first photos witnessed by the western world of the things going on in South Vietnam and to a great degree it bothered many people and they were asking for something to be done to change this from happening over there. 

            

       The third and final event that caused the coup of the Ngo Dinh Diem government and the escalation of the Vietnam War was when the Kennedy administration and the United States government saw the overwhelming dislike of Ngo Dinh Diem and the government by a large portion of the South Vietnam population and realized they needed to take some kind of action in finding a solution and try and help the problems (Library 2015). President Kennedy and the United States government launched a fact finding mission in South Vietnam to see how the war was going as well as trying to find out if the problems with the Buddhists and the South Vietnam government could spill over and cause more problems for the United States and its allies in the Vietnam War. The two officials sent to handle the mission came back to the president with two very different results, one of them told the president that everything was going fine and that the government could handle both the war and the Buddhist conflict, while the other official told the president that the problems in South Vietnam were far greater than the United States government had first predicted (Topmiller 2002). This advisor told the president that the government was unfavorable in South Vietnam and that there could very well be a religious civil war from the government and the Buddhists clashing. After nearly 6 months of conflict Ngo Dinh Diem and his government were overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the Army of The Republic of Vietnam and backed by many United States officials. Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated during this process and a new leader was put in place.

            After doing some research on this topic I was able to see how both sides wanted to fight for their equal rights but the government just had far more resources to do it in the beginning and the only way the Buddhists could fight back was with their bodies and their will. In South Vietnam many of the people living there are in the Buddhists religion but the government there was ran by a Roman Catholic leader and so that is what the top religion of South Vietnam was going to be. In my opinion I believe if the Vietnam War wasn’t going on than the South Vietnam government might have been able to keep its role of power in the country but with the war going on the United States and its allies needed to make sure the country was secure from the inside out and make sure that everything was running smoothly. At the start of the conflict the South Vietnam government and the Buddhists both wanted their religious views to be heard but in the end it was a completely different thing. The government was overthrown and the leader was assassinated and on the other hand the Buddhist is the country really didn’t get a win out of the deal because they still had to fight for their religious views and ways for years to come. I think from this conflict the United States got a higher level of involvement in Vietnam and they wanted to have their hand in not only helping the country but they wanted to be able to secure itself in the region for future political gains (Library 2015).

            To conclude the South Vietnam and Buddhist conflict was many things to many people. On one side the Buddhist wanted their freedom, that is why they marched in protest in Hue and were willing to sacrifice lives for their cause and on the other side of that the government felt what they were doing was right and that breaking up the demonstrations would be the right course of action to take. When the Buddhist lit himself on fire and burned to death to show the government that the Buddhist were willing to do the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their religion and the name of their rights as human beings. The government wanted to shut these things down but when the pictures of this incident reached the world everyone started to take notice of this country and the things that were happening in it and without the help of the journalists covering those stories many people would have probably never known what was going on there. Finally when the United States government found out and wanted to get involved and help the problems in South Vietnam it was the end for Ngo Dinh Diem and his governments regime in that region. There was no clear victor from this conflict but it did change how people viewed and saw the people of Vietnam and it possibly changed the whole outcome of the Vietnam War from many standpoints. Without this conflict and the way it ended the history books may be very different in what they tell about this region of the world and the way the Vietnam War was fought and won, the Buddhists in the world may be viewed differently as well as their in Vietnam. This conflict was fought with great pride on both sides and in the end it was both sides still wanting to fight for their way of life and their way of freedom and religion.