In the annals of Vietnam War history, no figure has been more controversial than
Ngo Dinh Diem. During the 1950s, U.S. leaders hailed Diem as the miracle man of
Southeast Asia and funneled huge amounts of aid to his South Vietnamese
government. But in 1963 Diem was ousted and assassinated in a coup endorsed by
President John F. Kennedy. Diem s alliance with Washington has long been seen as
a Cold War relationship gone bad, undone either by American arrogance or by Diem
s stubbornness. In "Misalliance, " Edward Miller provides a convincing new
explanation for Diem s downfall and the larger tragedy of South Vietnam.