Timeline of the Vietnam War (1957)

In 1957 South Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem visited the United States and was acclaimed a "miracle man' who had saved one-half of Vietnam from communism. However, in the latter part of the year, violent incidents committed by anti-Diem insurgents increased and doubts about the viability of Diem's government were expressed in the media and by U.S. government officials.

The term "Viet Cong" for the communist cadres in South Vietnam came into common use as the use of the older term "Viet Minh" declined.

January
The military budget for the government of South Vietnam in 1957 was projected to total $207 million dollars of which $187 million would come from the United States. Seventy percent of the U.S. assistance was spent paying the salaries of South Vietnamese armed forces.

February

 * 22 February

A shot was fired which narrowly missed Diem while he was visiting Ban Me Thuot. He was not injured but his Secretary of Agrarian Reform was wounded.

May
The Civil Police Administration project of Michigan State University surveyed the police and para military resources of South Vietnam. The para-military Civil Guard (CG) had 54,000 members and was responsible for patrolling rural areas and maintaining law and order. The Self Defense Corps (SDC) militia with about 50,000 members was a militia force to protect villages from subversive activities. These two organizations were poorly equipped, trained, and disciplined, especially the SDC whose "capability to withstand assaults by armed and organized Viet Cong units is virtually nil." In addition, in many areas the SDC was infiltrated by the communists. A new U.S. Ambassador in South Vietnam, Elbridge Durbrow warned the Department of State that Diem had "become more intolerant of dissenting opinions" and that he relied "heavily on a small circle of advisers including members of his family."
 * 2 May

On an official visit to the United States, President Diem arrived at noon on May 8 at the National Airport in Washington, D.C. aboard the plane of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Columbine III, a silver Constellation. Diem was received at the airport by Eisenhower, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Nathan Twining. It was only the second time that Eisenhower had greeted a visitor at the airport.
 * 8 May

Diem addressed the United States Congress and received a standing ovation.
 * 9 May

Diem was accorded a ticker tape parade in New York City and acclaimed by Mayor Robert Wagner as "a man history may yet adjudge as one of the great figures of the twentieth century."
 * 12 May

Life Magazine called Diem "The Tough Miracle Man of Vietnam." He was similarly lauded in other U.S. publications.
 * 13 May

Diem departed the United States to return to South Vietnam. This date was also Ho Chi Minh's birthday.
 * 19 May

The number of U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam was increased from 692 to 736, the great majority being assigned to the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG).
 * 24 May

June
Le Duan, Secretary General of the Communist Party in North Vietnam, wrote a report advocating for North Vietnam to do more to support the communists, now commonly called the Viet Cong, in South Vietnam while continuing to focus on building a socialist society in the North.

July
The relative peace in South Vietnam during the past year was broken when anti-government dissidents killed 17 people in a bar in the Châu Đốc massacre. The massacre was attributed to remnants of the Hoa Hao religious sect which had been repressed by Diem in 1955 and 1956. The killings were the beginning of a low level campaign targeting government officials, school teachers, and village chief's families.
 * 11 July

South Vietnam's ambitious land reform program had only distributed 35700 ha to 18,800 farmers during nearly two years of operation. This compared with nearly 1000000 ha of land estimated to be available for redistribution.
 * 15 July

September
The Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia from 2 to 9 September 1957 was an official visit by the first President of the Republic of Vietnam.
 * 2-9 September

The District Chief of My Tho province and his family were assassinated.
 * 14 September

October
A bomb was thrown into a Saigon restaurant and injured 13 people.
 * 10 October

Major Harry Griffith Cramer, Jr. an American army officer, was killed by a bomb near Nha Trang, South Vietnam. It is unclear whether or not the bomb explosion was purposeful.
 * 21 October

Thirteen American soldiers were injured in three attacks aimed at MAAG and United States Information Service installations in Saigon.
 * 22 October

November
An article by David Hotham in The New Republic said that "We should not suppose that the Communists have done nothing because Diem has been in power" but "rather than Diem has remained in power because the Communists have done nothing." The Diem government, he said, was not democratic; there was no freedom of the press; and the regime was propped up by American aid.
 * 25 November

December
Russian and Chinese ministers Nikita Khrushchev and Chou Enlai decided that South and North Vietnam should be regarded as separate countries and each have a seat at the United Nations. This prompted the North Vietnam government to consider a military solution to unite North and South Vietnam.

During the last three months of 1957, 190 terrorist attacks and clashes between government security forces and insurgents were reported in South Vietnam. Seventy-four people were killed including 20 government officials and 31 police and military personnel.

Ambassador Durbrow in Saigon reported to the Department of State that Diem's focus on security and repression of opposition to his rule was alienating the people of South Vietnam and facilitating the growth of communism.
 * 5 December

General Samuel Williams, the head of MAAG in South Vietnam responded to Ambassador Durbrow. "There are no indications of a resumption of large-scale guerrilla war at this date," he said. The Viet Cong "lack sufficient strength, do not have a popular base and are faced with a central government whose efficiency to deal with the subversion threat has gradually improved."
 * 10 December

A Saigon newspaper highlighted the growing violence in the countryside of South Vietnam: "Today the menace is greater than ever, with the terrorists no longer limiting themselves to the notables in charge of security. Everything suits them, village chiefs, chairmen of liaison committees, simple guards, even former notables...In certain areas the village chiefs spend their nights in the security posts, while the inhabitants organize watches."
 * 17 December

During the last three months of 1957, 190 terrorist attacks and clashes between government security forces and insurgents were reported in South Vietnam. Seventy-four people were killed including 20 government officials and 31 police and military personnel.