1958 in the Vietnam War
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← 1957
1959 →
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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 1958, the upswing in violence against the government of South Vietnam continued, much of which was committed by the communist-dominated insurgents now called the Viet Cong. In South Vietnam, President Ngo Dinh Diem appeared to be firmly in power, although many American officials expressed concern about the repressive nature of his regime. The United States continued to finance most of the budget of the government of South Vietnam. North Vietnam continued to campaign for reunification with the South while focusing on its internal economic development, but pressure from hard-pressed communists in the South was forcing the North to contemplate a more active military role in overthrowing the Diem government.
U.S. Ambassador Elbridge Durbrow and the heads of other U.S. government agencies in South Vietnam gave a negative assessment of the Diem government to Washington. They stated that discontent with the Diem government in rural areas was growing and a growing problem with internal security was anticipated. In the cities, Diem's secretive Cần Lao Party had succeeded in infiltrating many organizations and was feared. General Samuel Tankersley Williams, head of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) for Vietnam, refused to concur with the report stating that he did not have "concern regarding internal security, the economic situation, or the executive ability of the government of [South] Vietnam."
Troubled by reports of oppression in South Vietnam, Socialist Norman Thomas resigned from the American Friends of Vietnam, a prominent lobbying group which supported the Diem government.
A South Vietnamese army truck was ambushed by insurgents and all occupants were killed. This was one of several attacks in February on government and military personnel in the Mekong Delta region of southernmost South Vietnam.
Three hundred Bình Xuyên insurgents attacked the Minh Thanh Rubber Plantation north of Saigon. The Government sent two divisions of army troops to attempt to hunt down the insurgents. Most of the incidents of violence in South Vietnam were committed by the remnants of the Binh Xuyen criminal gang and the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo religious sects which had been suppressed by the Diem government in 1955 and 1956. Viet Cong "political advisers" were often attached to the insurgents.
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Wikipedia