Editing Ngo Dinh Diem (section)

==Exile==
[[File:Prince Cường Để with Ngô Đình Diệm and others.jpg|thumb|Diệm alongside Prince [[Cường Để]] in Japan, 1950|left]]
Diệm applied for permission to travel to Rome for the [[Jubilee in the Catholic Church|Holy Year]] celebrations at the [[Holy See|Vatican]]. After gaining French permission, he left in August 1950 with his older brother, Bishop Ngô Đình Thục. Before going to Europe, Diệm went to Japan where he met with Prince Cường Để, his former ally, and discussed Cường Để's efforts to return to Vietnam and his capacity to play some roles in his homeland.{{sfn|Trần Mỹ-Vân|2005|pp=213-214}} Diệm's friend also managed to organize a meeting between him and [[Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group|Wesley Fishel]], an American political science professor at the [[University of California]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.msu.edu/findaid/ua17-95.html |title=MSU Libraries |access-date=20 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214215911/http://archives.msu.edu/findaid/ua17-95.html |archive-date=14 December 2017 }}</ref> who was working for the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] in Japan. Fishel was a proponent of the anti-colonial, anti-communist third force doctrine in Asia and was impressed with Diệm and helped him organize connections in the United States.{{sfn|Fall|1967|p=242}} In 1951, Diệm flew to the United States to seek the support of government officials but he was not successful in winning US support for Vietnamese anti-communists.{{sfn|Miller|2013|pp=39-40}}
 
In Rome, Diệm obtained an audience with [[Pope Pius XII]] at the Vatican before undertaking further lobbying across Europe. He also met with French and Vietnamese officials in Paris and sent a message indicating that he was willing to be the Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam to Bảo Đại but Bảo Đại refused to meet with him.{{sfn|Jacobs|2006|p=27}} Diệm returned to the United States to continue building support among Americans. Nonetheless, to Americans, the fact that Diệm was an anti-communist was not enough to distinguish him from Bảo Đại and other State of Vietnam leaders. Some American officials worried that his devout Catholicism could hinder his ability to mobilize support in a predominantly non-Catholic country. Diệm recognized that concern and broadened his lobbying efforts to include a development focus in addition to anti-communism and religious factors. Diệm was motivated by the knowledge that the US was enthusiastic in applying their technology and knowledge to modernize postcolonial countries.{{sfn|Miller|2013|p=34}} With the help of Fishel, then at [[Michigan State University]] (MSU), Diệm was appointed as a consultant to MSU's Government Research Bureau. MSU was administering government-sponsored assistance programs for [[Cold War]] allies, and Diệm helped Fishel to lay the foundation for a program later implemented in South Vietnam, the Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group.{{sfn|Jacobs|2006|p=30}}
 
The Americans' assessments of Diệm were varied but Diệm did gain favor with some high-ranking officials, such as Supreme Court Justice [[William O. Douglas]], Roman Catholic cardinal [[Francis Spellman]], Representative [[Mike Mansfield]] of [[Montana]], and Representative [[John F. Kennedy]] of [[Massachusetts]] along with numerous journalists, academics, and the former director of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] [[William J. Donovan]].{{sfn|Morgan|1997|pp = 1-14}} Although he did not succeed in winning official support from the US, his personal interactions with American political leaders promised the prospect of gaining more support in the future. Mansfield remembered after the luncheon with Diệm held on 8 May 1953, he felt that "if anyone could hold South Vietnam, it was somebody like Ngô Đình Diệm".<ref>{{cite book|title= Senator Mansfiled: the Extraordinary Life of a Great American Statesman and Diplomat|last= Oberdorfer|first= Don|year= 2003|location= Washington, DC|pages= 77}}</ref> According to John Cooney, cardinal Francis Spellman played a prominent role in creating the poolitical career of the Ngô Đình Diệm. In Diệm, Spellman had seen the qualities he desired in any leader: ardent Catholicism and rabid anti-Communism<ref>Cooney, John (1984). The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman. Time Books. P. 240</ref>
 
During Diệm's exile, his brothers Nhu, Cẩn, and Luyện played important roles in helping him build international and internal networks and support in different ways<ref>{{cite book|title= Bên giòng lịch sử, 1940–1965|last= Cao|first= Văn Luận|year= 1972|location= Sài Gòn – Trí Dũng|pages= 180–189}}</ref> for his return to Vietnam. In the early 1950s, Nhu established the Cần Lao Party, which played a key role in helping Diệm attain and consolidate his power.{{sfn|Miller|2004|p=450}}