(courtesy of Mr. Larry Hadzima, Neillsville, WI)
October 22, 1955
Broadcast Declaration on the Eve of the National Referendum.
“Compatriots,
Tomorrow, October 23rd, for the first time in our history, men and women of Viet-Nam, you will exercise one of the fundamental rights of all democratic countries: the right to vote.
In compliance with the unanimous wish that you have clearly expressed, you are called upon to exercise your sovereignty by deciding whether or not you agree to withdraw legally the title of Chief of State from a man whose overthrow you have demanded.
For ten years, our revolution has gone forward under the most bitter suffering. If your vote prohibits any backward motion, a decisive step will be made on the road to order, freedom and dignity.
Twenty-two years ago, when I was in power, I insisted on the installation of an elected Assembly. Since men and circumstances opposed it, I handed in my resignation.
Thus, the advent of a democratic regime is not due solely to circumstances. It corresponds with an ideal for which I have never ceased to struggle.
The first act that you will perform as citizens of a free nation will open the way to other consultations on the political life of the country, especially in the holding of the coming general elections throughout free Viet-Nam.
Dear compatriots, together we have already overcome difficulties which were sometimes tragic.
Together, we will fight for the triumph of democratic ideals, against subjugation, direct or indirect, of totalitarian communism.
In all circumstances, I will continue to serve the country as in the past, with all my might. If, by approving the policy I have adopted since my return to Viet-Nam, you will entrust me with a new charge tomorrow, you will have voted for the building of a free and democratic Viet-Nam in which all of us will have equal rights in the handling of public affairs, social progress, and collective prosperity.
It depends only on you whether or not I will be put in a position to proclaim the Republic.
God bless Viet-Nam!”
(President Ngo Diem Dinh on Democracy (Addresses relative to the Constitution), Press Office, Saigon: February 1958.)
