Ngo Dinh Diem 25 June 1954, Diệm returned from exile, arriving at Tân Sơn Nhứt airport in Saigon. On 7 July 1954, Diệm established his new government with a cabinet of 18 people. On 21 July 1954, the Geneva accords temporarily partitioned Vietnam at the 17th parallel, pending elections in 1956 to reunify the country. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam controlled the north, while the French-backed State of Vietnam controlled the south with Diệm as the Prime Minister. Diệm criticized the French for abandoning North Vietnam to the Communists at Geneva, claimed that the terms did not represent the will of the Vietnamese
Congress of Peace in Geneva Congress of Peace in Geneva In 1867, the French pacifist Charles Lemonnier (1806-1891) convened the Congress of Peace in Geneva, known as the "International League of Peace and Liberty". It was ultimately at this conference that it was decided to abolish the sovereignty and international relations of the Holy See, something which Pius IX blamed on secret societies. According to Jasper Ridley, at the 1867 Congress of Geneva, Garibaldi referred to "that pestilential institution which is called the Papacy" and proposed giving "the final blow to the monster". This was a reflection of the bitterness that had been generated by