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III MAF and the Buddhist Struggle Movement in South Vietnam, 1966 Robert Topmiller University of Kentucky

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III MAF and the Buddhist Struggle Movement in South Vietnam, 1966 Robert Topmiller University of Kentucky Confrontation in Danang: III MAF and the Buddhist Struggle Movement in South Vietnam, 1966 Robert Topmiller University of Kentucky "Vietnamese history will never forgive these brutal acts." general Ton That Dinh On 13 June 1965, the New York Times reported that twenty "major gov- ernment upheavals" had occurred in South Vietnam since the fall of Ngo Dinh Diem in November 1963.1 This short piece listing the vari- ous regimes that held power during this brief period illustrates one of the most troubling problems for American policy-makers during the Vietnam War. How could the United States establish a government in Saigon that displayed a sense of legitimacy, viability, and sensitivity to the populace-a government, in other words, that would command the loyalty of the citizens of South Vietnam? Few American officials understood that the lack of Government of South Vietnam (GVN) legitimacy also called forth the Buddhist Struggle Movement since most South Vietnamese had no legal way to confront their government. Buddhist resistance to the GVN, however, remains one of the most contentious and misunderstood issues dur- ing the Vietnam War, and has been largely neglected by historians. Yet, Buddhism constituted a vital link in non-Communist opposition to the GVN from 1964 to 1966. By emphasizing Buddhism, opponents of the regime highlighted its association with foreign elements and its alienation from the people. Thus, when Buddhists3 demonstrated against the government while claiming to represent the will of the The author would like to thank Dr. George Herring and Dr. David Hamilton for review- ing and offering comments on parts of this essay, and Dr. George Kahin for sharing his files on the Buddhist Movement. 1. "The Buddhist Crisis of 1966, Hoa Binh interview with General Ton That Dinh," March 1972 (hereafter cited as Hoa Binh interview with Dinh), 7, Kahin File. 2. "Vietnam Shifts Since '63," New York Times, 13 June 1965, 7. 3. By Buddhists, I mean the group who followed the lead of Thich Tri Quang and the Vien Hao Dao. Buddhists in South Vietnam spilt into a number of major groupings, of which the Buddhist movement represented about one million Buddhists in the country. It was also weakened by internal divisions between moderates, led by Thich Tam Chau and radicals who followed Thich Tri Quang. In addition, the movement had a regional people, they emphasized their dedication to Vietnamese history and tradition. This stood in stark contrast to the GVN, which had allowed the introduction of American forces into the country tuming South Vietnam into a battleground between the United States and Asian Communism. Vietnamese nationalism always remained at the core of Buddhist resistance.4 component. Thich Tri Quang remained most powerful in central Vietnam while Thich Tam Chau retained an edge in Saigon. Neither side had much influence with Hoa Hao or the huge number of Buddhists who lived in the Mekong Delta. 4. Considering the fact that the Buddhist movement constituted the major group car- rying out organized non-Communist opposition to the GVN, it seems startling that his- torians have paid so little attention to it. Asian political scientist George Kahin concludes that the Buddhist leadership constituted a highly organized, politicized group intent on becoming a third force in South Vietnam who wanted to negotiate with the NLF to form a neutralist govemment to end the war. Journalist Stanley Karnow attempts to place the Buddhist movement within the context of other rebellions against authority in Asian history, while joumalist Frances FitzGerald delves into the extreme complexity, factional divisions and regional character of the Buddhist movement. Vietnamese Buddhist nun Chan Khong describes the struggle to keep the light of compassion glowing in a war- torn society. Stephen Batchelor, a Buddhist historian, details Thich Nhat Hanh's efforts to engage in social activism and the founding of the Vanh Hanh Institute, a Buddhist University in Saigon in 1964. Nguyen Tai Thu, a Vietnamese religious historian, traces the evolution of Vietnamese Buddhism as it emerged during the anticolonial period and the argument that raged within the organization over the issue of social justice versus removal from the world and the proper role of Buddhism in society. Thu also coauthored a history of Buddhism in Vietnam with Ha Van Tan and Minh Chi which examines the symbiotic relationship between Buddhist prelates and lay people throughout history. Jerrold Schecter, anAmerican joumalist, traces the social and political evolution of Bud- dhism in the postcolonial period and places particular emphasis on the movement in Vietnam. Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh argues that Vietnamese nation- alism impelled Vietnamese to object to the American presence in Vietnam and inevita- bly led to Buddhist opposition to the GVN and the United States. Despite these efforts, the absence of works on the Buddhist movement has left a huge gap in our understand- ing of the indigenous response to U.S. actions in South Vietnam. The Buddhist Crisis of 1966, the focus of my work, is the key to understanding the issues that drove Buddhist objections to the United States and the GVN. In fact, no other event in the long U.S. involvement in South Vietnam better typified America's frustration over its inability to influence events in South Vietnam and the ambiguity feit by many Vietnamese over the American crusade to defend them from their countrymen. See George McT. Kahin, Inter- vention: How America Became Involved in Vietnam (New York, 1986); Frances FitzGerald, Fire in the Lake (New York, 1972); Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History (New York, 1983); Stephen Batchelor, The Awakening of the West: The Encounter of Buddhism and Western Cul- ture (Berkeley, Calif., 1994), 353-69; Nguyen Tai Thu, History of Buddhism in Vietnam (Hanoi, 1992); Minh Chi, Ha Van Tan, and Nguyen Tai Thu, Buddhism in Vietnam (Hanoi, 1993); Jerrold Schecter, The New Face of Buddha: Buddhism and Political Power in Southeast Asia (New York, 1967), 145-252; Chan Khong, Learning True Love: How I Learned and Prac- ticed Social Change In Vietnam (Berkeley, Calif., 1994); and Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire (New York,1967), 50-91. .
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