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Vietnam, and he assumed that Ho Chi Minh would get 100 percent of the vote in his half of the country. 14
    Nevertheless, the stark fact remained that Ho Chi Minh had more popularity than any non-Communist leader. Under the circumstances, no one in the U. S. Government could have been expected to support free elections. So the decision was made to find an alternative to Ho, meanwhile avoiding elections. Ngo Dinh Diem became the favored alternative, and with the help of Colonel Lansdale and the CIA , he managed to win the power struggle, eliminating his opponents in the Vietnamese military and Bao Dai.
    The CIA , on September 15, 1954, judged Diem a good prospect for American support, indeed “the only figure on the political scene behind whom genuine nationalist support can be mobilized.” Although he was “confronted with the usual problems of inefficiency, disunity, and corruption in Vietnamese politics,” he was honest and energetic. Diem, the CIA felt, had “considerable unorganized popular support, particularly among Catholic elements of South Vietnam.” It predicted he would survive the present crisis but said that his ability to create a government that could last depended on “early and convincing” outside support. 15
    Eisenhower then made his decision to back Diem. On October 1, 1954, he wrote a letter of support to him, a letter often cited later by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon as proof that it was Ike who got us into Vietnam.
    â€œWe have been exploring ways and means … to make a greater contribution to the welfare and stability of the Government of Viet-Nam,” Ike began. He was therefore instructing the American ambassador in Saigon to confer with Diem to see “how an intelligent program of American aid given directly to your Government can serve to assist Viet-Nam in its present hour of trial, provided that your Government is prepared to give assurances as tothe standards of performance it would be able to maintain in the event such aid were supplied.”
    The purpose of the offer, the President said, was to assist Diem “in developing and maintaining a strong, viable state, capable of resisting attempted subversion or aggression through military means.” There was a condition to the aid. “The Government of the United States expects that this aid will be met by performance on the part of the Government of Viet-Nam in undertaking needed reforms.” Such a government would be, the President hoped, “so responsive to the nationalist aspirations of its people, so enlightened in purpose and effective in performance, that it will be respected both at home and abroad and discourage any who might wish to impose a foreign ideology on your free people.” 16
    The reforms never took place. The CIA reported that Diem’s regime was increasingly repressive. American aid nevertheless continued to support Diem’s government. One of the reasons was the lack of an alternative; another was the optimistic picture the CIA painted of South Vietnam. In Saigon, there was a high standard of living, political stability, economic progress—according to the CIA .
    In May 1957, Diem came to the United States for a triumphant welcome. He spent three days in Washington, where he conferred with Ike, Dulles, and other high officials. He addressed a joint session of Congress and met with such supporters as Cardinal Spellman, Senator John Kennedy, Justice William O. Douglas, and Mayor Robert Wagner of New York. Wagner hailed Diem as a man “to whom freedom is the very breath of life itself.” Ike loaned Diem his personal plane to fly to the West Coast. In the press, on television, at banquets, everywhere Diem was hailed as the miracle worker who provided living proof of what could be accomplished in the Third World without Communist regimentation. 17
    CIA reports continued to echo that view. In its 1959 National Intelligence Estimate, the