Compare Sources A and E as evidence for US presidential attitudes to Diem Both sources agree on providing citizen protection against

communism by the US. As Diem opposed communism- he was not their own choice- he was acceptable for the job as he was a man rather than a movement. It was good that the US could support Diems refusal to allow democratic elections as they feared Hos communists would win. Both sources also agree on wanting Vietnam independence under Diem. They also wanted to abolish communist ideology from the people. The sources strongly agree on preventing further violence and will assist as much as possible in order to achieve this goal. The US provided Diem with an army, in particular, Eisenhower provided him with 78% of US total foreign aid budget between 1955 and 1961. In 1954 and 1961, Eisenhower sent military advisors to train Diems police, and financial aid was given excessively into social, economic and political reforms, which was given in order to make South Vietnam a model democratic state and so producing good advertisement that would make communism less appealing. The fear of communism spreading through the other states is also evident in both sources; the US saw the loss of North Vietnam as another potential failure for the policy of containment and feared that the other states would soon fall to communism. Both sources see the US the only power in which to absolve communism and other problems in South Vietnam. The differences or disagreements with source A and E are that, Source A suggests the leadership of Vietnam is at fault for the increase in problems and of communism spreading, which is supported by the fact that the US were, at the start, very doubtful that Diem would be able to establish an independent South Vietnam. Diem has been described to spend long periods of time meditating, which would imply that he was not be able to fulfil his duties as a leader as he spent a lot of time doing meditating. However, Source E does not put the blame on Diems leadership, but rather on the communist groups working within North Vietnam to spread communism. The author is straight forward in saying that definite action will be taken against the incidents of violence occurring because of the communist, whose aim is to convert the people of South Vietnam to communism. Source A, on the other hand distinctively blames the leadership of South Vietnam and implies that without their help, they would not be able to overcome the problems. They see concern for the future in the present leadership. Diem refused US demands for reforms and ignored French officials, who decided to withdraw their remaining 160,000 troops. Contemplation on withdrawing support from him was considered, but was left with no alternative. Diem was using US aid to help his own position after rigging a referendum in 1955. Whilst Source E suggests that problems with communism is spreading because of the fault of those communist groups; they are described as increasingly growing and affecting the safety of the South Vietnamese people. The provenance of Sources A and E is authored by American presidents; both presidents have access to information that allows them to make an informed decision. In Source A, the source is dated back to 1954 were the first real impressions of Diem were made by the US;
1

contemplation was made on whether to terminate the aid they were providing to him. Source E is dated to 1961 were action was taken straight from the US without the consolidation of Diem to take care of communist threats. The US was taking its own actions to abolish the problems of communism and the safety of the people. In conclusion, Source A provides the overview of Diems failure in leading South Vietnam to the way the US would have liked; we see the true side to the affects of the issues occurring from the communist groups. In Source E, the source provides the insight of what is to be done to absolve all the problems that are present in South Vietnam, implying that the Diems leadership has left it all to the US to fix as the issues still stand and even grown and need to be looked into thoroughly by the US who seem to be the only one able enough to do so, which is implied in the source.