NEW AMBASSADOR INFORMED U.S. WILL SUPPORT A COUP AGAINST DIEM GOVERNMENT
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On August 20, 1963, newly appointed United States ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.* received classified instruction as he prepared to depart for Southeast Asia.
The ambassador was informed that the government of the United States would be willing to support a military overthrow of the regime of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem**.
JFK+50 NOTE
After serving 3 terms in the U.S. Congress, JFK faced Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (R-Massachusetts) in the 1952 U.S. Senate race. JFK defeated the incumbent senator partly through the use of tea parties to woo women voters.
After his defeat, Senator Lodge said, "it was those damn tea parties."
*Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902-1985) represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate & served as UN Ambassador under President Eisenhower. HCL was the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee in 1960.
**Ngo Dinh Diem (1901-1963) was born in Quang Binh province, Vietnam & served as the first president of South Vietnam 1955-1963. NDD was killed in the 1963 coup.
SOURCE
"Lodge Gets Classified Instructions," JFK+50, August 20, 2011, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/
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