Thich Tri Quang And The Vietnam War - James Mcallister

Modern Asian Studies 42, 4 (2008) pp. 751–782. C @ 2007 Cambridge University Press
doi:10.1017/S0026749X07002855 First published online 30 July 2007
‘Only Religions Count in Vietnam’: Thich
Tri Quang and the Vietnam War
JAMES McALLISTER
Department of Political Science, Williams College,
Williamstown, MA 01267
Email: jmcallis@williams.edu
Abstract
Thich Tri Quang has long been one of the most controversial actors in the history
of the Vietnam War. Scholars on the right have argued that Tri Quang was in
all likelihood a communist agent operating at the behest of Hanoi. Scholars on
the left have argued that Tri Quang was a peaceful religious leader devoted
to democracy and a rapid end to the war. This article argues that neither
of these interpretations is persuasive. As American officials rightly concluded
throughout the war, there was no compelling evidence to suggest that Tri Quang
was a communist agent or in any way sympathetic to the goals of Hanoi or the
NLF. Drawing on the extensive archival evidence of Tri Quang’s conversations
with American officials, it is apparent that Tri Quang was in fact strongly anticommunist
and quite receptive to the use of American military power against
North Vietnam and China. The main factor that led to conflict between the
Buddhist movement and the Johnson administration was Tri Quang’s insistence
that the military regimes that followed Ngo Dinh Diem were hostile to Buddhism
and incapable of leading the struggle against Communism to a successful
conclusion.

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