WE'RE UP TO OUR HIPS IN MUD OUT THERE

JFK CONSIDERS SUPPORTING COUP IN SOUTH VIETNAM

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On August 29, 1963, President John F. Kennedy met with his advisers at the White House regarding his administration's  policy in South Vietnam.

Audio tapes made at the meeting, declassified and released in December 2009, reveal the specific topics discussed including possible support of an overthrow of the government of President Ngo Dinh Diem.* 

According to The National Security Archive, JFK acted as a "moderator," asking questions and listening to answers from his various advisers. At one point the President said... "We're up to our hips in mud out there."

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maxwell Taylor, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and CIA director John McCone opposed supporting the coup while several others were in favor of supporting it.

Senior officials told JFK that there was "no chance of success" in the war in Vietnam with Diem as president of South Vietnam.  The President and a majority of his advisers concluded that, at the very least, Ngo Dinh Nhu**, Diem's younger brother and chief political adviser, had to go.

JFK sent McNamara and Taylor to South Vietnam to attempt to convince Diem of the necessity of removing Nhu.  During their mission, the United States terminated military aid to the South Vietnam Special Forces which was controlled by Nhu.  The National Security Archives says that this action indicates that JFK was prepared to support Diem's overthrow if he didn't cooperate.

*Ngo Dinh Diem (1901-1963), president of the Republic of Vietnam 1955-1963, was born in Quang Binh and graduated 1st in his class at the French School of Public Administration and Law in 1921.  

**Ngo Dinh Nhu (1910-1963) was born in Phu Cam, French Indochina.  He graduated from an archivists school in Paris and worked at Hanoi's National Library.  In 1943, he married Tran Le Xuan.^

^Tran Le Xuan, a.k.a. Madame Nhu, (1924-2011) served as 1st Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963 as her brother-in-law, President Diem, was unmarried.

SOURCE

"Kennedy Considered Supporting Coup in South Vietnam, August 1963." The National Security Archive, December 11, 2009, www.2.gwu.edu/

Madame Nhu and LBJ

May 12, 1961

LBJ Library Photo

FAR EASTERN POLICY REVIEW

IKE APPROVED FAR EASTERN POLICY REVIEW 60 YEARS AGO 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Sixty years ago today, August 20, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a National Security Council paper titled "Review of United States Policy in the Far East".

The report supported the view of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that the government should support President Ngo Dinh Diem of  South Vietnam.

The report also recommended giving encouragement to Diem to establish more democratic institutions and to broaden the government of South Vietnam.

Ike, Dulles and Diem

Diem was called "the miracle man of Asia" by President Eisenhower.


CABOT LODGE GETS CLASSIFIED INSTRUCTIONS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-one years ago today, August 20, 1963, newly appointed US Ambassador to South Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., received classified instructions as he prepared to leave the United States.

Ambassador Lodge was informed the United States government would be willing to support a military coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem.

JFK and HCL

Oval Office

Photo by Abbie Rowe (1961)

JFK Library Image

According to Chris Matthews, JFK had resisted Diem's request for American combat troops and by August 1963 had come to the realization...

"he could no longer support a regime that was fighting the Communist guerrillas and Buddhist monks..."

and, in addition, the Diem government was "hopelessly corrupt."

Why did JFK turn to his Republican opponent of 1952 and 1960 to serve as ambassador to South Vietnam?

Matthews' answer is that Cabot Lodge...

"lacked any sentimental feelings toward Diem....he wanted victory (and he would make) the hellish situation in South Vietnam bipartisan."

After Lodge arrived in Saigon, he received a cable from Washington.  It read...

"The United States government cannot tolerate situation in which power lies in Nhu's hands...we cannot...give you detailed instructions as to how (to) proceed, but...we will back you to the hilt."

SOURCE

"Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero," by Chris Matthews, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2011.


TROTSKY STABBED BY AXE-WIELDING ASSASSIN

Mexico City (JFK+50) Seventy-four years ago today, August 20, 1940, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was attacked in his home here in Mexico City by an axe-wielding assassin.

Trotsky, who was found guilty of treason "in absentia" during the rule of Joseph Stalin, was 60 years old.

Trotsky died the following day.  His killer, Ramon Mercader, a Spanish communist and undercover agent, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Leon Trotsky (center) 

With Friends in Mexico (1940)