The U.S. feared that Vietnam would vote for a communist government.
July of 1956.
They did take place
Feared that Vietnam would vote for a Communist government.
NO. Vietnam has never had truly free and democratic elections. In fact, the US was notable for effectively preventing voters in South Vietnam from voting for unification with North Vietnam in 1956.
I am not sure exactly what this question refers to. The US did not stop any elections during the Vietnam war. Certainly not in the United States. If the question refers to elections in Vietnam, actually in 1956 (before the US involvement), Ngo Dinh Diem stopped the elections called for in the 1954 Geneva Accords. It was only under US pressure, that he finally agreed to hold the elections which were held in 1959
The South Vietemese leaders knew that he would lose the elections. (APEX)
Diem cancelled it under the pretext that North Vietnam's communist government wouldn't keep the elections democratic; however another reason was that Ho Chi Minh was more popular than Diem and would have won the reunification election.
In 1956, South Vietnam, with American backing, refused to hold the unification elections. By 1958, Communist-led guerrillas known as the Viet Cong had begun to battle the South Vietnamese government. By; Kenya Z. T. In 1956, South Vietnam, with American backing, refused to hold the unification elections. By 1958, Communist-led guerrillas known as the Viet Cong had begun to battle the South Vietnamese government. By; Kenya Z. T.
Diem stated that elections would not being entirely free from communist influence, as the south had not been party to the 1954 Geneva peace agreements.
In 1954, the Vietminh forces of Vietnam defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and the nation was temporarily divided into two sections, north and south. The people of the south chose Ngo Dinh Diem as their ruler and Ho Chi Minh ruled the north. Diem refused to go along with the planned elections in 1956 to unite the nation so the Vietminh members in the south created the Viet Cong and the war between north and south for control of the country began. Diem realized he would probably lose the elections. Many communists had moved south from the north and would probably not vote for Diem's regime. The US encourage Diem with aid and money. He was even considered a "George Washington of South Vietnam" by some of the American media. With US support, Diem felt he could defeat the communists so he declared a republic in South Vietnam. The government of South Vietnam requested military advisors from the United States to help train the South Vietnamese army. MrV
The 1952 and 1956 elections agains Adlai Stevenson.
1956