1957 in the Vietnam War
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1958 →
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 A map of South Vietnam showing provincial boundaries and names and military zones (1, II, III, and IV Corps). |
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 South Vietnam United States
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Anti-government insurgents: Viet Minh cadres |
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In 1957 South Vietnam's President Ngô Đình Diệm visited the United States and was acclaimed a "miracle man' who had saved one-half of Vietnam from communism. However, in the latter part of the year, violent incidents committed by anti-Diệm insurgents increased and doubts about the viability of Diệm's government were expressed in the media and by U.S. government officials.
The term "Viet Cong" for the communist cadres in South Vietnam began to replace the older term "Viet Minh" in common usage.
The military budget for the government of South Vietnam in 1957 was projected to total $207 million dollars of which $187 million would come from the United States. Seventy percent of the U.S. assistance was spent paying the salaries of South Vietnamese armed forces.
An author in the prestigious American Journal Foreign Affairs said that "South Vietnam today is a quasi-police state characterized by arbitrary arrests and imprisonments, strict censorship of the press and the absence of an effective political opposition.
The International Control Commission, formed to administer the Geneva Accords of 1954, said that neither North or South Vietnam had been in compliance with the agreement.
A shot was fired which narrowly missed Diệm while he was visiting Ban Mê Thuột. He was not injured but his Secretary of Agrarian Reform was wounded.
A CIA National Intelligence Estimate said that the Viet Cong in South Vietnam numbered 5,000 to 8,000 and along with about 2,000 armed members of the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo sects were "widely dispersed and probably not capable of more than local harassment of government forces and local populations."
The Civil Police Administration project of Michigan State University surveyed the police and para military resources of South Vietnam. The para-military Civil Guard (CG) had 54,000 members and was responsible for patrolling rural areas and maintaining law and order. The Self Defense Corps (SDC) militia with about 50,000 members was a militia force to protect villages from subversive activities. These two organizations were poorly equipped, trained, and disciplined, especially the SDC whose "capability to withstand assaults by armed and organized Viet Cong units is virtually nil." In addition, in many areas the SDC was infiltrated by the communists.
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Wikipedia