Question

Why did the United States continue to support South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem’s corrupt and weak regime? a. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson feared losing Vietnam to communism. b. U.S. officials were caught by surprise when a military coup led to Diem’s death. c. By 1963, Diem’s forces had regained much of the Vietnamese countryside from the outnumbered Viet Cong. d. Diem had built a stable and broad base of support for his government using advice from American officials. e. Diem had the support of his people, which pointed to an eventual South Vietnamese victory over the communists.

Answer 1

Answer:

A. President Kennedy and Johnson feared losing Vietnam to communism is the correct answer.

Explanation:

They supported South Vietnam under the policy of containment. They supported the corrupt government because they wanted to defeat the communist north and Vietcong. The US government considered it to be like domino, if southern Vietnam fell to communists, it would set of a chain reaction which will bring other countries under the influence of communism. Decolonization was another factor for supporting South Vietnam ,as new countries were gaining their independence, US, china and Russia considered them to be their potential allies and whether they were eligible for support or not depended on their government. Since South Vietnam was a non communist state it was obvious that US would support it.