The Lost Mandate Of Heaven

Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam, possessed the Confucian "Mandate of Heaven", a moral and political authority that was widely recognized by all Vietnamese. This devout Roman Catholic leader never lost this mandate in the eyes of his people; rather, he was taken down by a military coup sponsored by the U.S. government, which resulted in his brutal murder. The commonly held view runs contrary to the above assertion by military historian Geoffrey Shaw. According to many American historians, President Diem was a corrupt leader whose tyrannical actions lost him the loyalty of his people and the possibility of a military victory over the North Vietnamese. The Kennedy Administration, they argue, had to withdraw its support of Diem. Based on his research of original sources, including declassified documents of the U.S. government, Shaw chronicles the Kennedy administration's betrayal of this ally, which proved to be not only a moral failure but also a political disaster that led America into a protracted and costly war. Along the way, Shaw reveals a President Diem very different from the despot portrayed by the press during its coverage of Vietnam. From eyewitness accounts of military, intelligence, and diplomatic sources, Shaw draws the portrait of a man with rare integrity, a patriot who strove to free his country from Western colonialism while protecting it from Communism. "A candid account of the killing of Ngo Dinh Diem, the reasons for it, who was responsible, why it happened, and the disastrous results. Particularly agonizing for Americans who read this clearly stated and tightly argued book is the fact that the final Vietnam defeat was not really on battle grounds, but on political and moral grounds. The Vietnam War need not have been lost. Overwhelming evidence supports it." - From the Foreword by James V. Schall, S.J., Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University "Did I find a veritable Conradian 'Heart of Darkness'? Yes, I did, but it was not in the quarter to which all popular American sources were pointing their accusatory fingers; in other words, not in Saigon but, paradoxically, within the Department of State back in Washington, D.C., and within President Kennedy's closest White House advisory circle. The actions of these men led to Diem's murder. And with his death, nine and a half years of careful work and partnership between the United States and South Vietnam was undone." - Geoffrey Shaw, from the Preface

America's foremost chronicler of contemporary China brilliantly illuminates the new power structure, economic initiatives, and cultural changes that have transformed China since the Tianamen Square massacre of 1989. "A rich portrait, capturing a fascinating and perhaps fateful moment in China's long, turbulent history".--Arnold R. Isaacs, San Francisco Chronicle.

Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam, possessed the Confucian “Mandate of Heaven”, a moral and political authority that was widely recognized by all Vietnamese. This devout Roman Catholic leader never lost this mandate in the eyes of the people; rather, it was removed by his erstwhile allies in the United States government in a coup sponsored by them resulting in his assassination. The commonly held view runs contrary to the above assertion by military historian Geoffrey Shaw. According to many American historians, President Diem was a corrupt leader whose tyrannical actions lost him the loyalty of his people and the possibility of a military victory over the North Vietnamese. The Kennedy Administration, they argue, had to withdraw its support of Diem. Based on his research of original sources, however, including declassified documents of the US government, Shaw found a Diem who was up for Mass at 6:30 every morning, who was venerated by the Vietnamese as a great leader at all levels of government and society, a kind man who did not even like the thought of Communist guerrillas being killed. Also, according historical record, Diem did not persecute Buddhists; on the contrary, he did more to preserve and to fund Vietnam’s Buddhist heritage than any other Vietnamese leader. “A candid account of the killing of Ngo Dinh Diem, the reasons for it, who was responsible, why it happened, and the disastrous results . . . This book is not a happy read. But it is a careful record to set the issue straight. What is particularly agonizing for Americans who read this clearly stated and tightly argued book is the fact that the final Vietnam defeat was not really on battle grounds but on political and moral grounds, or, even worse, on personal grounds of prideful diplomats and reporters. The Vietnam War need not have been lost. Overwhelming evidence supports it.” — From the Foreword by James Schall, S.J., Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University “Did I find a veritable Conradian ‘Heart of Darkness’? Yes, I did, but it was not in the quarter to which all popular American sources were pointing their accusatory fingers; in other words, not in Saigon but, paradoxically, within the Department of State back in Washington, DC, and within President Kennedy’s closest White House advisory circle. The actions of these men led to Diem’s murder. And with his death, nine and a half years of careful work and partnership between the United States and South Vietnam was undone.” — From the Preface by Geoffrey Shaw

Robert Cardinal Sarah calls The Day Is Now Far Spent his most important book. He analyzes the spiritual, moral, and political collapse of the Western world and concludes that "the decadence of our time has all the faces of mortal peril." A cultural identity crisis, he writes, is at the root of the problems facing Western societies. "The West no longer knows who it is, because it no longer knows and does not want to know who made it, who established it, as it was and as it is. Many countries today ignore their own history. This self-suffocation naturally leads to a decadence that opens the path to new, barbaric civilizations." While making clear the gravity of the present situation, the cardinal demonstrates that it is possible to avoid the hell of a world without God, a world without hope. He calls for a renewal of devotion to Christ through prayer and the practice of virtue.

Russian meddling in U.S. elections is nothing compared to what the Chinese are planning for 2032. Such is the backdrop of a new satirical work, called "The Mandate of Heaven," in which the Chinese government strikes at America's Achilles' heel. The result is a rollicking story, both serious and silly, that unfolds like a blending of Fahrenheit 451, Mary Poppins, and 30 Rock . . . in other words, a portrayal of America's New Normal.Join Bert Alfred, an unknown American author, as he is silenced and robbed of his works by an official of the Chinese government. Unbeknownst to him, however, the strength of his ideas has won him a Chinese ally and given him a chance to reclaim what is rightfully his. . . . But will he, when the future of a brighter generation is at stake?Enjoy Bert, as he interferes in the lives of two Chinese children and disrupts America's political order, in this East versus West farce.The Mandate of Heaven is an ancient Chinese belief that a government's authority is divinely granted and that this authority lasts only for as long as the leadership rules with virtue. Thus, when the ruling classes become greedy, corrupt, and immoral, it is the right of the people . . . or Mother Nature . . . to rise up and remove them from power, thus proving they've lost the Mandate of Heaven."Capitol Hill is a farm league for K Street." --U.S. Representative Jim Cooper, as quoted in "Republic, Lost," by Lawrence LessigIn the future, Washington's K Street acquires an annex, called K Street South, located in Central Florida. Here, a sovereign sanctuary develops (free of the ubiquitous surveillance equipment that has made clandestine meetings so difficult to hide), where lobbyists can broker allegiances between politicians and their wealthy donors in the privacy and luxury they feel they deserve. So brazen is their disregard for anything but power and the almighty dollar that it doesn't even matter to them that this K Street South is the creation of the Chinese Communist Party.

Social science theories of contentious politics have been based almost exclusively on evidence drawn from the European and American experience, and classic texts in the field make no mention of either the Chinese Communist revolution or the Cultural Revolution -- surely two of the most momentous social movements of the twentieth century. Moreover, China's record of popular upheaval stretches back well beyond this century, indeed all the way back to the third century B.C. This book, by bringing together studies of protest that span the imperial, Republican, and Communist eras, introduces Chinese patterns and provides a forum to consider ways in which contentious politics in China might serve to reinforce, refine or reshape theories derived from Western cases.

Diem’s alliance with Washington has long been seen as a Cold War relationship gone bad, undone by either American arrogance or Diem’s stubbornness. Edward Miller argues that this misalliance was more than just a joint effort to contain communism. It was also a means for each side to shrewdly pursue its plans for nation building in South Vietnam.

In China: Promise or Threat? Helle compares the cultures of China and the West through both private and public spheres. For China, the private sphere of family life is well developed while behaviour in public relating to matters of government and the law is less reliable. In contrast, the West operates in reverse. The book’s twelve chapters investigate the causes and effects of threats to the environment, military confrontations, religious differences, fundamentals of cultural history, and the countries’ orientations for finding solutions to societal problems, all informed by the Confucian impulse to recapture the lost splendour of a past versus faith in progress toward a blessed future. The West has promoted individualism while China is locked in its kinship society.