Diem, in fact, cured none of the issues ailing South Vietnam. Though he struck a popular tone by rejecting U.S requests for additional American troops, he could not hope to repress the burgeoning insurrection without larger American assistance. Furthermore, Diem was an imperfect personality to reconfigure and rally the South Vietnamese war effort. He had never worked for the French, but had freely collaborated with the Japanese, and his devout Catholicism set him apart from the Buddhists, who comprised more than 90 percent of Vietnam’s population. Those beliefs, nevertheless, made him popular with many Americans. He was seen as a rigorous anti-imperialist with sufficient credentials to forge a nationalist, if authoritarian nation, that could weather the onslaught from the North. Thus, the United States went to “sink or swim with Ngo Dinh Diem,” as the phrase soon went.