Using SEATO for political cover, the Eisenhower administration helped create a new nation from dust in southern Viet Nam. In 1955, with the help of massive amounts of American military, political, and economic aid, the Government of the Republic of Viet Nam
(GVN or South Viet Nam) was born. The following year, Ngo Dinh Diem, a staunchly anti-Communist figure from the South, won a dubious election that made him president of the GVN. Almost immediately, Diem claimed that his newly created government was under attack from Communists in the north. Diem argued that the Democratic Republic ofViet Nam (DRV or North Viet Nam) wanted to take South Viet Nam by force. In late 1957, with American military aid, Diem began to counterattack. Diem passed a repressive act known as Law 10/59 that made it legal to hold someone in jail if s/he was a suspected Communist without bringing formal charges. The outcry against Diem's harsh and oppressive actions was immediate. Buddhist monks and nuns were joined by students, business people, intellectuals, and peasants in opposition to the corrupt rule of Ngo Dinh Diem. The more these forces attacked Diem's troops and secret police, the more Diem complained that the Communists were trying to take South Viet Nam by force.
The Kennedy administration seemed split on how peaceful or democratic the Diem regime was. Some Kennedy advisers believed Diem had not instituted enough social and economic reforms to remain a viable leader in the nation-building experiment. Others argued that Diem was the "best of a bad lot".
As the White House met to decide the future of its Viet Nam policy, a change in strategy took place at the highest levels of the Communist Party. From 1956—1960, the Communist Party of Viet Nam desired to reunify the country through political means alone. Accepting the Soviet Union's model of political struggle, the Communist Party tried unsuccessfully to cause Diem's collapse by exerting tremendous internal political pressure.
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