Bi Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008, pp. standards of performance it would be able to maintain in the event such aid were supplied. JFK Papers: NSF: Country File: b. JFK Library: Roger Hilsman Papers: Country File, b. On the morning of October 5, Lucien Conein, acting as intermediary, met with Gen. Duong Van Big Minh. Primary Source. granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action. . On November 1 we have the PICL which shows the coup underway (Document 25). Ho Chi Minh calls for unity against the French (February 1930) Military opponents coalesced around General Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and included General Krulak; while another center of opposition included CIA Director John McCone and his responsible division chief, William E. Colby. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. Ho Chi Minh condemns French imperialism (1920) Diem's handwritten proclamation to the Army on the day of the coup, November 1, 1963 (Document 26). Viet-Nam endowed with a strong government. in purpose and effective in performance, that it will be respected both JFKPapers: NSF: Country File: b. Nhu claimed he was prepared to join them which could have been an effort to unmask the coup plotters and their grievances rather than a genuine statement of support. Le Duan: The path of revolution in the South (1956) An American press report on the Binh Xuyen (April 1955) o chnh m st TT Ng nh Dim (Aladin Nguyen), Phng Ambassador to South Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge, August 15, 1963. That post included a selection of essential documents, including the CIA briefing where the agencys director, John McCone, informed the president of the initial approaches by South Vietnamese plotters to CIA officers. EISENHOWER ASKS VIETNAM REFORM; In Letter to Saigon Premier, President Links Aid Pledge to Stable Regime There EISENHOWER ASKS VIETNAM REFORM, https://www.nytimes.com/1954/10/25/archives/eisenhower-asks-vietnam-reform-in-letter-to-saigon-premier.html. Kennedy's views on removing Diem become more explicit in a tape recording of his meeting with newly-appointed Ambassador to Saigon Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., in mid-August 1963, just before Lodge set out for Saigon. Lodge and Kennedy met in the Oval Office on August 15 (Item 2, Document 3). Instead, JFK spoke not of opposing a coup, but of not conducting one just because the New York Times was pushing italmost a repeat of what he had expressed to Lodge in their meeting 10 days earlier (Document 3). According to recollections by DCI John McCone, made in the course of interviews conducted by the Church Committee in 1975, he met with President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy on or around October 5 after Conein reported that Big Minh discussed a possible assassination plan. Kennedy did a lot of agreeing, letting Lodge talk, but the two concurred the press in Saigon posed a problem, JFK expressed the sense that something would have to be done about Diem, but he didnt want to be driven to that by the press, and he was not yet certain who, other than Diem, the U.S. could support in Saigon. Modern History Sourcebook. subversive collaborators within. Don asserted that all plans were complete and had been checked and re-checked. Following the Geneva Convention, President Eisenhower and the United States supported Ngo Dinh Diem. D. inhibit the growth of radical Islam. Ed. Nguyn Vn Thiu Your recent requests for aid to assist Nixon announces deployment of US troops in Cambodia (April 1970) US news report on the Paris peace agreement (January 1973) Lodge was the first diplomat to meet with LBJ as president. We have been exploring ways and means to permit our aid to Viet-Nam to be more SAIGON, Vietnam, Oct. 24 -- In a letter to Premier Ngo Dinh Diem, President Eisenhower has expressed the hope that "indispensable reforms" would be carried out by South Vietnam in. [5] Joint Chiefs of Staff Memorandum, General Maxwell D. Taylor and Secretary Robert C. McNamara-President John F. Kennedy, October 2, 1963. Press Release of Letter from President Dwight Eisenhower to Ngo Dinh Diem In reviewing the different ways to achieve a change in government, assassination, Minh said, was the easiest plan to accomplish although he disavowed any political ambitions himself. With the exception of primary sources, all content on this website is Alpha History 2018. "I was shocked by the death of Ngo Dinh Diem. Ngha This amounted much more to a quest for more information on Saigon conditions than an assault against a purported pro-coup faction. SAIGON, Vietnam, Oct. 24 -- In a letter to Premier Ngo Dinh Diem, President Eisenhower has expressed the hope that "indispensable reforms" would be carried out by South Vietnam in connection with the receipt of United States aid. National Security Archive: George McT. That was one reason for the study missions. Conscription of Vietnamese peasants for service in World War I (1916) On the morning of October 24, Don saw Conein at Tan Son Nhut airport. Forrestal also commented, without further elaboration, that others had not been privy to the latest Lodge-JFK private communications. SOURCE: JFKL: JFKP: National Security File . 05/09/2018 12:04 AM EDT. [2] Rufus Phillips, Why Vietnam Still Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned. The experience of Americans in South Vietnam established that. Unless otherwise indicated EISENHOWER'S LETTER TO NGO DINH DIEM, October 23, 1954 While in support themselves, Lodge and Harkins did not feel as though U.S. support had gone so far that the only option was to have a coup. Hoping that forces from the south would liberate Saigon, as had occurred during the coup attempt in 1960, Diem ordered all armed forces and paramilitary units to rise up to join me in fighting off the traitors. Diem would be killed within a matter of hours. v cc ng bo nn nhn ISBN:978-0-3002-1780-3, William Colby and the CIA: The Secret Wars of a Controversial Spymaster The Sourcebook is a collection of public McGeorge Bundy memo on attacking North Vietnam (February 1965) Step-by-step explanation He represented the Pagoda Raids as some sort of victory for Diem, absolved Nhu of responsibility for them, pictured Diem as a man of integrity who had tried to carry out all the promises he had made to the United States, and framed Vietnamese Buddhism as manipulated by Cambodia. civilians murdered in Hue City in 1968. McNamara and Ball also agreed that there was much to do to prepare for a coup; once the U.S. agreed to back it, the major challenge was to see that it was successful. Home | Ancient History Sourcebook | Medieval Sourcebook | Modern History Sourcebook | Byzantine Studies Page I have been unable to find the claimed McCone quote in any contemporary record. The agreement called for an election to reunify the two zones in 1956. (Credit:LBJ Presidential Library). US security briefings on Ngo Dinh Diem and his regime (1958-1960) European and World history. Nhng Government of Viet-Nam. more pictures and SOURCE: Department of State Bulletin. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. Bi Your recent requests for aid to assist in the formidable project of the movement of several hundred thousand loyal Vietnamese citizens away from areas which are passing under a de facto rule and political ideology which they abhor, are being fulfilled. Luke A. Nichter, For more information, contact New documents and extracts will be added regularly. Compare this with Document 11 here, and with Items 9 (audio), 10 and 11 in E-book 302. So did South Vietnamese. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. held his first meeting with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem on August 26. So he pledged support to an emerging leaderNgo Dinh Diema devout Catholic and fervent anti-French, anti-Communist nationalist. at home and abroad and discourage any who might wish to impose a foreign These lists frequently overlooked Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Tho, who would ordinarily have been Diems constitutional successor. Compare this redaction with the one on page 626 of Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, v. III, Vietnam, January-August 1963. part 1, part 2, I am, accordingly, instructing the American Ambassador to Viet-Nam 735-736. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! President Kennedy decided to replace his ambassador to Saigon, Frederick E. Nolting, and appointed Henry Cabot Lodge to that position. . Hilsman dominated the discussion, with Taylor doubting whether Saigon could get along without Diem, and McNamara sought assurances on four points. Reprinted from The Department of State Bulletin (November 15, 1954), pp. Once American policymakers became aware that the coup plotters considered assassination a potential part of their plan they proceeded very carefully. Vietnam War: The Essential Reference Guide - Barnes & Noble Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational Ngo Dinh Diem - Wikipedia President John F. Kennedy was more disposed,than previously understood, to support actions that might change the leadership in South Vietnam. Nhu commented that the South Vietnamese military officers, many of whom were Buddhist themselves, started off in sympathy with the Buddhists following the uprising that occurred in Hue on May 8. In 2003 we posted an electronic briefing book with one of the first-released Kennedy tape recordings of a key White House deliberation on the final go-ahead for the coup. Episodes 1-4 | National Archives In a follow-up meeting the next day, another briefing by William Colby summarized the scene in Saigon. I am, accordingly, instructing the American Ambassador to Viet-Nam to examine with you in your capacity as Chief of Government, how an intelligent program of American aid given directly to your government can serve to assist Viet-Nam in its present hour of trial, provided that your Government is prepared to give assurances as to the standards of performance it would be able to maintain in the event such aid were supplied. The online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives, Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Under Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, the USA had given millions of dollars to prop up the French in Vietnam, and had sent military advisers to support Ngo Dinh Diem's corrupt, anti-communist . We do not reproduce this here because we presented it in both the previous electronic briefings on this subject. will be met by performance on the part of the Government of Viet-Nam in Back at the embassy Lodge confronted Harkins over his intervention with the South Vietnamese officer (Document 22). I am He was an extraordinary character, while he became increasingly difficult in the last few months. Kennedy wanted Lodge to make a personal assessment. While Diem had not yet surrendered, the coup plotters planned to set up a civilian government as soon as the coup was over. Another consistent theme among American planners was that there was no clear frontrunner, and it was unclear whether the next government would be civilian or whether it would share power with the military for a time. Ambassador Frederick Nolting that he would make no such move against the Buddhists, Harriman and Ball were no longer sure of Diems intentions. Thomas L. Hughes Papers, Courtesy of Thomas Hughes. b cng sn st hi ti Hu. A Christian Vietnamese named Ngo Dinh Diem had been in the United States between 1950 and 1954, and there he had met Cardinal Francis Spellman and Senator John F. Kennedy. While the forces at the disposal of the coup plotters remained inferior to those commanded by Diem and Nhu, if the U.S. were to back a coup attempt it was important that it was successful. The Saigon government was headed by President Ngo Dinh Diem, an autocratic, nepotistic ruler who valued power more than either his relations with the Vietnamese people or progress in fighting the communists. The ouster of Diem in a militarycoup that would have major implications for American policy and growing involvement in the country happened 57 years ago today. Nhu continued his plotting, which eventually led to a plan to launch government raids against the most important Buddhist pagodas in Saigon and Hue (Document 5). Neither message, nor the McCone quote, appears in the Foreign Relations of the United States for example, and only the October 6 cable is in a study the agencys Inspector General subsequently did of the Diem coup. While a popular proposal in Washington had been to somehow separate Diem from Nhu, Hughes explained why it would be difficult to achieve that: Diem and Nhu were more inseparable than ever. A Viet Cong member reflects on its approach to war (1985) [3] State cable, DepTel 412, EYES ONLY, September 15, 1963. Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research Thomas L. Hughes made notes of White House conversations with National Security Council staff member Michael Forrestal and Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs Roger Hilsman during August 24-28, 1963, which he referred to as coup planning week. Vietnam took up most of the discussions, including criticism of Nhus explanation for the series of events that led to the pagoda raids which Forrestal said was what he wanted us to hear. They agreed that the Diem government could not survive another 12 months. Such a government would, I hope, During his trip the Saigon situation escalated as Nhu went ahead to launch the raids on the Buddhist pagodas he had already planned. Le Duan reminds agents in the South of tactics (November 1965) News of ARVNs request for backing of a coup reached Kennedy as his presidents daily brief (then called the Presidents Intelligence Checklist, or PICL) was reporting that Ngo Dinh Nhu was indeed behind the Pagoda Raids, and that Nhu and Diem were issuing direct orders to military officers, leaving out the ARVN chain of command (Document 7).
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