Collapse of the Ngo Dinh Diem Government and the Vietnam War as U.S.-South Vietnamese Conflict

分析1963年南越佛教危机，重点是南越人民对吴庭艳政权根深蒂固的不快，政府处理他们政治要求的残酷方式，以及肯尼迪政府解决危机的失败尝试，这表明，美国对吴廷琰的压力策略很少奏效，因为两国采取行动的前提和目标大相径庭，也因为吴廷琰知道美国人除了支持他别无选择。另一方面，美国决策者不断指责吴廷琰在南越的政治军事斗争中出了问题，这促使他们决定默许针对吴廷琰的军事政变。肯尼迪政府采取的打击游击队的反叛乱战略是美国人的又一次失败，因为南越政府和武装力量的巨大疑虑，这是两国之间的冲突，而且，最重要的是，美国毫无根据地相信他们自己的作战方法无疑适用于越南。然而，它的缺陷甚至在美国大规模卷入战争之前就已经明显了。尽管许多学者坚持认为肯尼迪在1965年前撤出越南的意图是真实的，甚至是可能的，但他分阶段撤出美国军事顾问的计划是基于一种不切实际的乐观。因此，肯尼迪的总统任期应该被视为美国越南战争的一个重要开始时期。

Analysis of the Buddhist Crisis in South Vietnam in 1963, focusing on deep-rooted unpleasantness of the South Vietnamese people against the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, the government' s brutal way of handling their political demands, and the failed attempt of the Kennedy Administration for the solution of the crisis, showed that American pressure tactics upon Diem seldom functioned because the two countries had acted on vastly different premises and objectives, and also because Diem knew that the Americans had no alternative other than to support him. American policymakers, on the other hand, continuously blamed Diem for what had gone wrong with the politico-military struggle in South Vietnam, which contributed to their decision to acquiesce a military coup against him.Counterinsurgency strategy which the Kennedy Administration adopted to fight guerrillas was another failure for the Americans, owing to tremendous misgivings of the South Vietnamese government and armed forces, conflict between the two countries, and, above all, ungrounded American belief that their own method of fighting a war was unquestionably applicable to Vietnam. However, its deficiencies were already apparent even before American massive involvement in the war. Although many 'scholars have insisted that Kennedy' s intention of pulling out of Vietnam by 1965 was real and even possible, his plan of phased withdrawal of American military advisers was based on an unrealistic optimism. Kennedy' s presidency thus should be regarded an essential introductory period for American war in Vietnam.