DIEM & NGH DEAD IN SOUTH VIETNAMESE COUP, U.S. READY TO RECOGNIZE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 3, 1963, The Sunday Star reports that the United States expects to recognize the new provisional government of South Vietnam "within a few days."
President John F. Kennedy, however, requires the new government be turned over to "nominal civilian control and the...intention...to hold early elections."
Photographic evidence reveals Diem's body was "bullet-ridden" while informal sources say Nhu was stabbed to death.
After morning and afternoon meetings yesterday, President Kennedy left the White House "for his Virginia home."
JFK+50 NOTE
J. Randy Tarborrelli writes that JFK dictated his memo on the event in the early morning hours of November 4th saying...
"I feel I must bear a good deal of responsibility for it. I was shocked by the death of Diem and Nhu. The way he was killed makes it particularly abhorrent."
JRT writes...
"the failed coup was a disaster of epic proportions and the gravity of those events would reverberate for years to come in the region and throughout the world."
SOURCES
"Diem Reported Shot, Nhu Knifed to Death," by Earl H. Voss, The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., November 3, 1963, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"JFK: Public, Private, Secret," by J. Randy Taraborrelli, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2025.
"U.S. Ready to Recognize New Regime," by Malcolm W. Browne, The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., November 3, 1963, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
History of South Vietnam
