Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 27, 2009



The Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia from 2 to 9 September 1957 was an official visit by the first President of the Republic of Vietnam. It was part of a year of traveling for Diem, who made official visits to the United States and other anti-communist countries. As with his American trip, Diem was warmly and lavishly received during the height of the Cold War, garnering bipartisan praise from both the Liberal Party of Australia of Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the opposition Australian Labor Party. He was universally extolled by the media, which praised him for what they perceived to be a successful, charismatic, democratic and righteous rule in South Vietnam, overlooking his authoritarianism, election fraud and other corrupt practices. Diem's visit was a highmark in relations between Australia and South Vietnam. Over time, Diem became unpopular with his foreign allies, who began to criticise his autocratic style and religious bias. By the time of his assassination, he had little support. Australia later sent troops to support South Vietnam in the anti-communist fight, but the bipartisanship evaporated during the mid-1960s as the ALP began to sympathise with North Vietnam and opposition to the war grew. The ALP later withdrew support for and refused to accept refugees from South Vietnam after winning office, but on the return of the centre-right Liberal-National coalition to power in 1975, Vietnamese refugees were allowed to resettle in Australia in large numbers. (more...)

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