Introduction

This chapter, a general introduction to the book, provides a general discussion of: (1) the need of the military junta, which overthrew Ngô Đình Diệm’s government, for a legal basis for the new regime, and, thus, a series of charters were handed down to the people and then rescinded or abolished under intense protests and/or demonstrations from various militant groups; and, (2) the various factors that contributed to the political instability of the period: the student/youth, the Buddhists, and the military. It also summarizes the contents of each of the remaining nine chapters.