National Social Democratic Front Explained
The National Social Democratic Front (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Quốc gia Dân chủ Xã hội), later named the Social Democratic Alliance (Vietnamese: link=no|Liên minh Dân chủ Xã hội), was a South Vietnamese political party which was effectively a federation of different groups, united by their anti-communist stance. Its chairman was Lt. Gen. Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, leader of South Vietnam from 1965–1975.
History
Democratic Progressive Party
The party was founded as the Democratic Progressive Party (Vietnamese: Đảng Dân-chủ Tiến-bộ) or simply Democratic Party (Vietnamese: Đảng Dân-Chủ|links=no) by Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in 1967.[5] It was not linked with its North Vietnam namesake, aligned with the Viet Minh and Communists.The Democratic Party, purportedly representing farmers, workers and small traders, participated in the presidential election of 1967, supporting President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and his military rule. The party also adopted the flag of the National Revolutionary Movement and the Vanguard Youth, a youth organization that participated to August Revolution in 1945 against French colonial rule.[6]
National Social Democratic Front
As the Vietnam War flared up, the Democratic Party tried to build a coalition with other anti-communist parties. In May 1969, the Democrats finally dissolved themselves into a new subject, the National Social Democratic Front. The party became quickly a federation of several organizations and parties, such as: persecuted Roman Catholics who fled from North Vietnam; the Vietnam Republic Veterans Association, who sympathized with military rule; the Vietnamese Kuomintang, ideologically opposed to communists like its Chinese counterpart; the Democratic Socialist Party, who rejected communists' atheism for Buddhist socialism; the Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam (along with its militant's branch, the National Radical Movement), that desired to reunify Vietnam but not under communists;[7] the Personalist Revolutionary Party, the heir of Can Lao Party and the Peasants' and Workers' Party, supporting rural interests and opposite to Viet Cong's guerrilla.
Social Democratic Alliance
The parties' federation was functional during Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's tenure as president and changed its name to Social Democratic Alliance in 1973. However, with the Vietnamization policy adopted by U.S. President Richard Nixon, South Vietnam inexorably started its collapse. The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 was a turning point in the war, causing the end of American intervention in Vietnam. Despite the peace agreement between communist North Vietnam and capitalist South Vietnam, in 1975 North Vietnam broke the peace and started the takeover of South Vietnam. Since the United States refused another intervention, South Vietnam collapsed after the Fall of Saigon, causing the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.
Democratic Alliance for Vietnam
See also: National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies. Many members of the Front and South Vietnamese government were executed by the new administration, but others fled from Vietnam. In 1981, many former members of the Front created the Democratic Alliance for Vietnam, a pluralist extra-parliamentary opposition group based in California who want restore freedom and democracy in Vietnam.
Prominent members
Electoral history
Presidential elections
Notes and references
References
Further reading
Documents
- Bùi Diễm & David Chanoff, In the Jaws of History, Indiana University Press ; Illustrated edition, April 1, 1999
- Phạm Công Luận, Hồi ức, sưu khảo, ghi chép về văn hóa Sài Gòn, Phuongnam Books & Thegioi Publishing House, Saigon, 2016–2022
- Kiều Chinh, Nghệ sĩ lưu vong : Hồi ký, Văn Học Press, Irvine, California, United States, 2021
- David Chanoff and Doan Van Toai (1986) Vietnam: A Portrait of Its People at War, I.B. Tauris Publishers
- Sharon, Ariel and David Chanoff (1989) Warrior : the autobiography of Ariel Sharon; New York : Simon and Schuster
- Good, Kenneth and David Chanoff (1992) Into the heart : one man's pursuit of love and knowledge among the Yanomami, Ulverscroft
- Crowe, William J and David Chanoff (1993) The line of fire : from Washington to the Gulf, the politics and battles of the new military, Simon & Schuster
- Elders, M Joycelyn and David Chanoff (1996) Joycelyn Elders, M.D. : from sharecropper's daughter to surgeon general of the United States of America, Morrow
- White, Augustus A. and David Chanoff (2011) Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care, Harvard University Press
- Zadman, Felix and David Chanoff (1995) Never the last journey: a Fortune 500 founder's life story from Holocaust survivor to victor on Wall Street, Shocken
- Book: Cao Van Vien . The Final Collapse . Washington, D.C. . . 1983. Cao Van Vien .
- Book: Dong Van Khuyen . The RVNAF . Washington, D.C. . . 1979.
- Book: Dougan, Clark . Fulghum, David . The Fall of the South . registration . Boston. Boston Publishing Company . 1985 . 0939526166. etal.
- Book: Dougan, Clark . Weiss, Stephen . Nineteen Sixty-Eight . registration . Boston, Massachusetts . Boston Publishing Company . 1983 . 0939526069. etal.
- Book: Hammer, Ellen J.. A Death in November: America in Vietnam, 1963. Ellen Hammer . 1987 . E. P. Dutton. 0-525-24210-4 . New York.
- Book: Hoang Ngoc Lung . The General Offensives of 1968–69 . McLean, Virginia . General Research Corporation . 1978.
- Book: Hosmer, Stephen T. . Konrad Kellen . Jenkins, Brian M. . The fall of South Vietnam : statements by Vietnamese military and civilian leaders . New York . Crane, Russak . 1980 . 0844813451 . registration .
- Book: Isaacs, Arnold R. . Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia . Johns Hopkins University Press . 1983 . 0801830605 . Baltimore, Maryland .
- Book: Jacobs, Seth . 2006. Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963. Rowman & Littlefield. 0-7425-4447-8. Lanham, Maryland.
- Book: Joes, Anthony J. . The War for South Vietnam, 1954–1975 . New York . Praeger . 1990 . 0275938921.
- Book: Jones, Howard . 2003. Death of a Generation: how the assassinations of Diem and JFK prolonged the Vietnam War . Oxford University Press. 0-19-505286-2. New York.
- Book: Intervention : how America became involved in Vietnam . Kahin, George McT. . New York . Knopf . 1986 . 039454367X . George McTurnan Kahin .
- Book: Karnow, Stanley . Vietnam: A history. Stanley Karnow . 1997 . Penguin Books . 0-670-84218-4. New York.
- Book: Our Vietnam: the war, 1954–1975 . Langguth, A. J. . 2000 . . 0-684-81202-9 . New York . A. J. Langguth .
- Book: Le Gro . William E. . From Cease-Fire to Capitulation . Washington, D.C. . . 1981.
- Book: Lipsman, Samuel . Weiss, Stephen . The False Peace: 1972–74 . Boston, Massachusetts . Boston Publishing Company . 1985 . 0-939526-15-8 . registration .
- McAllister, James . "A Fiasco of Noble Proportions": The Johnson Administration and the South Vietnamese Elections of 1967 . The Pacific Historical Review . 73 . 4 . November 2004 . University of California Press . Berkeley, California . 619–651 . 10.1525/phr.2004.73.4.619.
- 'Only Religions Count in Vietnam': Thich Tri Quang and the Vietnam War . McAllister, James . Modern Asian Studies . 42 . 4 . 2008 . 751–782 . Cambridge University Press . New York . 10.1017/s0026749x07002855. 145595067 .
- Book: Military History Institute of Vietnam . Victory in Vietnam: A History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975 . trans. Pribbenow, Merle . Lawrence, Kansas . University of Kansas Press. 2002 . 0700611754.
- Political Monks: The Militant Buddhist Movement during the Vietnam War . Moyar, Mark . Modern Asian Studies . 38 . 4 . 2004 . 749–784 . Cambridge University Press . New York . Mark Moyar . 10.1017/S0026749X04001295. 145723264 .
- Book: Moyar, Mark . Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 . Mark Moyar . Cambridge University Press . 2006 . 0521869110 . New York.
- Book: The Palace File . Nguyen Tien Hung . Schecter, Jerrold L. . Harper & Row . 1986 . New York . 0060156406 . Nguyễn Tiến Hưng . registration .
- Book: Penniman, Howard R. . Elections in South Vietnam . registration . Washington, D.C. . American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research . 1972 .
- Book: Smedberg, Marco . 2008 . Vietnamkrigen: 1880–1980 . Lund, Scania . Historiska Media . 978-9185507887.
- Book: Snepp, Frank . Decent Interval: An Insider's Account of Saigon's Indecent End Told by the CIA's Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam . New York . Random House . 1977 . 0394407431 . registration .
- Book: Truong Nhu Tang. Journal of a Vietcong. 1986 . Cape . 0224028197. Truong Nhu Tang.
- Book: Willbanks, James H. . Abandoning Vietnam: How America Left and South Vietnam Lost Its War . Lawrence, Kansas. University of Kansas Press . 2004 . 0-7006-1331-5.
- Book: Zaffiri, Samuel . Westmoreland . New York . William Morrow . 1994 . 0688111793.
External links
Notes and References
- Book: Nationalism and Revolution in Vietnam: The Rise of Nationalism in Vietnam. William J. Duiker. University of British Columbia Press. 89–90.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyNmB1nOdlg PRESIDENT THIEU ATTENDS DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONVENTION 1973
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccilKtrFGtI PRESIDENT NGUYEN VAN THIEU ATTENDS REVIEW PARADE 1973
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqZOKb1lXDQ INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT THIEU'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY 1973
- Web site: TỔNG THỐNG NGUYỄN VĂN THIỆU : CÔNG VÀ TỘI. Ongvove Wordpress. 1973.
- http://www.truclamyentu.info/tlls_nguyenduyan/chuyenlaco1.htm www.truclamyentu.info/tlls_nguyenduyan/chuyenlaco1.htm
- Book: New Perceptions of the Vietnam War: Essays on the War, the South Vietnamese Experience, the Diaspora and the Continuing Impact. Nathalie Huynh. Chau Nguyen. McFarland. 2015. 65.
