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America wanted to prevent the spread of communism by making sure that Ho Chi Minh did not spread communism to all of Vietnam. America decided to establish a stable non-communist government based on popular support in South Vietnam. After being conquered at Dien Bien Phu, the French were forced to leave Vietnam after a hundred years of colonial rule. The Geneva Peace Accords, signed in 1954, for the time being divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel until national elections, designed to rejoin the country, would be held in 1956. The United States like most anti-communists, however, did not support the Accords. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles thought that the Accords gave the communists in Vietnam too much power. The United States wanted to make sure that Ho Chi Minh did not establish authority south of the 17th parallel. The American government believed that a communist regime in South Vietnam would be a direct threat to national security and so they recommend a counter-revolutionary alternative. To sidetrack this, American government convinced Emperor Bao Dai to name Ngo Dinh Diem as leader of South Vietnam in 1955. Diem was selected because he was a loyal anti-communist and he had never joined forces with the French or the Japanese. They believed that he would unify South Vietnam and later North Vietnam under his control. America’s primary objective for Diem from 1954 to 1956 was to create a firm government rooted in popular support.
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