eisenhower letter to ngo dinh diem

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. Eisenhower called Diem the "miracle man of Asia." . The implications of the agreement concerning . President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Letter to Ngo Dinh Diem President John F. Kennedy was more disposed,than previously understood, to support actions that might change the leadership in South Vietnam. Don was furious that a different, subordinate ARVN officer, talking of a different coup, had been discouraged by U.S. military group commander General Paul D. Harkins, while word of that had reached President Diem. [6] Document 18 is the record of Coneins encounter with General Duong Van Minh on October 5. That was one reason for the study missions. 199, f.: Vietnam 9/11-9/17/63, CIA Reports.. own continuing efforts, will contribute effectively toward an independent President Ford on Americas post-Vietnam recovery (April 1975). Attorney General Kennedy said he did not think a coup made sense in terms of U.S. policy objectives, while Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara echoed concern about the effect a coup could have on war progress. The coup would take place in a window of late October-early November. [6] CIA Saigon cable 1385, October 3, 1963, ibid., p. 354. Assassination Records Review Board release, document 177-10001-10466. Ho Chi Minh seeks Vietnamese independence in Paris (1919) Hilsman dominated the discussion, with Taylor doubting whether Saigon could get along without Diem, and McNamara sought assurances on four points. Kennedy was personally aware of the pro-Diem views of Frederick E. Nolting, Lodges predecessor as ambassador, strengthening the impression that he included Nolting in White House deliberationsand personally engaged him in colloquy about Saigon eventspartly to build a case that all sides in this debate had been heard. Lodge and Kennedy met in the Oval Office on August 15 (Item 2, Document 3). All Rights Reserved. for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the 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. On the evening of September 7, Ngo Dinh Nhu called a meeting of all senior South Vietnamese military commanders in the Saigon area. Cht ca TT Ng nh Dim (Aladin Nguyen) ISBN:978-0-3002-1780-3, William Colby and the CIA: The Secret Wars of a Controversial Spymaster Ambassador Frederick Nolting that he would make no such move against the Buddhists, Harriman and Ball were no longer sure of Diems intentions. Suite 701, Gelman Library So he pledged support to an emerging leaderNgo Dinh Diema devout Catholic and fervent anti-French, anti-Communist nationalist. FRUS, IV, pp. New documents and extracts will be added regularly. Washington, DC, November 1, 2020President John F. Kennedy was more disposed to support the removal of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in late 1963 than previously appeared to be the case, according to a recently released White House tape and transcript. (BS Tn Tht Thin) by a long and exhausting war and faced with enemies without and by their National Security Archive: George McT. a de facto rule and political ideology which they abhor, are being fulfilled. Eisenhower's Letter of Support to Ngo Dinh Diem, October 23, 1954 Dear Mr. President: I have been following with great interest the course of developments in Viet-Nam, particularly since the conclusion of the conference at Geneva. at home and abroad and discourage any who might wish to impose a foreign Primary Source. ngh sao v C TT Ng nh Dim? Secretary of State Dean Rusk proposed that regular meetings of the group be conducted similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis meetings of the Ex Comm. Nhng Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. President Eisenhower: Letter to Ngo Dinh Diem October 23, 1954 [At this Site] Beginning US "humanitarian" aid. Chun Tng L 183-186. 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. Kahin donation, The following day, Hughes wrote to Secretary of State Dean Rusk on the subject of Nhu. Ho Chi Minh condemns French imperialism (1920) Vietnam War documents The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. 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. Pham Van Dong on Geneva, Vietnamese independence (July 1954) So did South Vietnamese. The implications of the agreement concerning Viet-Nam have caused grave concern regarding the future of a country temporarily divided by an artificial military grouping, weakened by a long and exhausting war and faced with enemies without and by their subversive collaborators within. The United States' changing connection with Vietnam is demonstrated by the letters from Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to President Ngo Dinh Diem, as Anderson's chapter "The United States and Vietnam" in-depth examines. Together, these materials offer comprehensive documentation on the Kennedy administrations August coup talk. I have been unable to find the claimed McCone quote in any contemporary record. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957, Vietnam, Volume I If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern [5] Joint Chiefs of Staff Memorandum, General Maxwell D. Taylor and Secretary Robert C. McNamara-President John F. Kennedy, October 2, 1963. Flying from Hawaii on President Dwight Eisenhower's private plane, Columbine III, and greeted at National Airport by the President, Diem received full military honors including a 21-gun salute. Here we supplement the 2003 coverage with some new evidence. Diem Betrayed - Anti-Diem Propaganda leaflets - Psywarrior 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. The assistant chief, left to comment on General Minhs options, advised Washington not to dismiss the assassination too quickly, as the other possibilities basically meant civil war. At the same time, there was a growing view within the South Vietnamese government that Nhu was disliked, hated, feared, or distrusted at all levels in the bureaucracy, the military establishment and urban elite circles., JFK Papers: NSF: Country File, b.200, f.: Vietnam 10/610/14/63, CIA Reports.. Eisenhower asked Kennedy: "Suppose they try to . President Kennedy meets with newly-appointed Ambassador to South VietnamHenry Cabot Lodge. Ng nh Dim: Th thch u tin (HNT & TTN), TT George Ball argued that Nhu in the ascendant was impossible to live with, making the coup imperative, but the questions were mooted that day when the Vietnamese generals postponed their coup plot. Harriman again said that the U.S. would lose South Vietnam if the coup fails, which was necessary because the political situation was bound to disintegrate further under Diem. [7] CIA, Saigon cable 1447, October 5, 1963, cited in Thomas L. Ahern, CIA and the House of Ngo: Covert Action in South Vietnam, 1954-1963. Compare this to Items 6 (audio), 7 and 8 of E-book 302, December 11, 2009. This shows that Nhu, even when calm, as Richardson observes, obsessed with Buddhists spreading propaganda and hiding communist agents among their monks at some of the most important pagodas. Ng nh Dim: Giai on cc k gy cn (HNT & TTN), TT The Government of the United States expects that this aid Eisenhower's Letter of Support to Ngo Dinh Diem, October 23, 1954 - The It hopes that such aid, combined with your own continuing efforts, will contribute effectively toward an independent Viet-Nam endowed with a strong government. 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 mention of assassination occurred at a key moment for the U.S. in Saigon. Letter from President Eisenhower to Ngo Dinh Diem, President of the Council of Ministers of Vietnam, October 23, 1954 DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have been following with great interest the course of developments in Viet-Nam, particularly since the conclusion of the conference at Geneva. Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai killings (1969) A Viet Cong guerrilla tells of the Tet offensive (1968) Compare this redaction with the one on page 626 of Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, v. III, Vietnam, January-August 1963. embassy.[9]. December 11, 2009, The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War Robert McNamara reflects on Americas failures in Vietnam (1995) Nguyn Vn Thiu TT The received history on this is that Hilsman, Harriman, and NSC staffer Michael Forrestal advocated going ahead with a coup, while other factions opposed it. of a country temporarily divided by an artificial military grouping, weakened and to remember the thousands of State visit by Ngo Dinh Diem to the United States - Wikipedia 198, f.: Vietnam 8/21-8/30/63.. disassembling Kennedy's firm but cautious action in the Cuban missile crisis resulted in the _________ of Russian missiles. We have been exploring ways and means to permit our aid to Viet-Nam to be more DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have been following with great interest the course of developments in Viet-Nam, particularly since the conclusion of the conference at Geneva. Bromley Smith again took notes of another meeting held that afternoon. Letters to Diem - wwhsenglish.pbworks.com Leader of mid- 1950 s pro-Communist revolution in French Indochina (Vietnam) against corrupt Ngo Dinh Diem regime in Saigon Gamal Abdel Nasser Egyptian nationalist president who seized British-controlled Suez Canal when economic aid negotiations among Egypt, Great Britain, and the United States dissolved in 1956 Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi Letters from Eisenhower and Kennedy to Ngo Dinh Diem Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower to Ngo Dinh Diem. guestbook to If you do reduplicate the document, indicate honor the ARVN Heoes. An Australian press report on the Tet offensive (February 1968) undertaking needed reforms. As . in its present hour of trial, provided that your Government is prepared In 1963, he became leader of South Vietnam after a coup in which Diem. Such a government would, I hope, be so responsive to the nationalist aspirations of its people, so enlightened in purpose and effective in performance, that it will be respected both at home and abroad and discourage any who might wish to impose a foreign ideology on your free people. Ngo Dinh Diem addresses a joint session of the US Congress (1957) We have since continued to collect material, and Luke Nichters presentation of the Kennedy-Lodge tape from mid-August offers a good opportunity to revisit the coup. The experience of Americans in South Vietnam established that. SOURCE: Department of State Bulletin. Ngo Dinh Diem decrees the death sentence (May 1959) The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and They agreed that the coup plotters would deal only with Conein in the future. Reprinted from The Department of State Bulletin (November 15, 1954), pp. On the morning of October 5, Lucien Conein, acting as intermediary, met with Gen. Duong Van Big Minh. I am, accordingly, instructing the American Ambassador to Viet-Nam to examine CIA Saigon Station Chief John Richardson met with Ngo Dinh Nhu for a conversation that focused primarily on the evolving Buddhist crisis. the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Nhu spoke out in response to signals that the U.S. planned to cut foreign aid, dismissing the speculation by saying that South Vietnam had sufficient reserves to operate for twenty years. View Full Article in Timesmachine , See the article in its original context from. President Eisenhower's letter to South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem promising aid against the North, October 1954. That was the climate in which ARVN General Tran Thien Khiem asked CIA for a meeting. With the exception of primary sources, all content on this website is Alpha History 2018. At the same time, Nhu ordered soldiers to fire upon Americans and other foreigners involved in acts intended to be hostile toward South Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Diem, and Madame Nhu. EISENHOWER'S LETTER TO NGO DINH DIEM, October 23, 1954 Dear Mr. President; I have been following with great interest the course of developments in Vietnam, particularly since the conclusion of the conference at Geneva. I am glad that the United States is able to assist in this humanitarian effort. v. t. e. Ng nh Dim, the President of South Vietnam, made a state visit to the United States, the main ally of his government, in 1957. Nhu had begun weekly meetings with the generals of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) where he himself had introduced the subject of a coupas he told the CIA, it was a psychoanalytic technique which might induce the ARVN officers to reveal their intentions. Ngo Dinh Diem - Vietnam War John Prados: Similarly, Alleged Assassination Plots quotes two CIA cables sent to Saigon, respectively, on October 5 and 6, of which only the latter message seems to exist in the public domain (DIR 73661, here presented as Document 19). This collection of Vietnam War documents has been selected and compiled by Alpha History authors. That was the sense of the Hilsman cable, and of the follow-up instruction sent after the August round of coup talk. collaborators within. more pictures and Back at the embassy Lodge confronted Harkins over his intervention with the South Vietnamese officer (Document 22). JFK Papers: Kennedy Tapes, Tape/Conversation 104/A-40/004; transcription by Luke Nichter. [1] The next day, INR went ahead to craft a paper on The Problem of Nhu (Document 17), where analysts cited South Vietnamese opinions that Nhu had become the dominant power in Saigon, exercising an overriding, immutable influence over Diem.. National Defense University: Maxwell D. Taylor Papers, Vietnam, Chapter XXIII, T-172-68. Despite promising to establish a free, Western-style democratic republic, Diem's leadership was far from democratic. WASHINGTON, May 11-- Following is the text of a joint statement issued today by President Eisenhower and President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam at the conclusion of their talks: View Full . McGeorge Bundy memo on attacking North Vietnam (February 1965) The implication is that Mike [Forrestal] is.. The Documents - The Wars for Viet Nam - Vassar College Bin Tnh Sng - (Hoi cm ca Trn khc Knh). effective and to make a greater contribution to the welfare and stability of the This text is part of the Ho Chi Minh on founding the Inodchinese Communist Party (1930) Ho Chi Minh calls for unity against the French (February 1930) Lodge left for Saigon, planning to stop in Hawaii and Japan on his way to receive various briefings and touch base with senior U.S. officials. LBJ Library: Bromley K. Smith Papers, b. North Vietnamese peace proposal (June 1971) Luke A. Nichter, For more information, contact 328 (April 6, 1965) 242 Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense: Excerpt from Memorandum for President Lyndon Johnson (April 21, 1965) 244 Ho Chi Minn: Letter to Lyndon Johnson (February 15, 1967) 245 From: President Eisenhower To: Ngo Dinh Diem Date: October 23, 1954 Dear Mr. President: I have been following with great interest the course of developments in Vietnam, particularly since the conclusion of the conference at Geneva. The implications of the 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. [5] But almost simultaneously in Saigon, the CIA electrified Washington when operative Lucien Conein ran into General Tran Van Don at the airport and the two held a meeting that night where the ARVN officer affirmed that the generals now had a specific plan, and Don got Conein to agree to meet the top plotter several days later. Edict of Emperor Minh Mang against Christians in Vietnam (1833) General Minh renewed the August call for an expression of U.S. support for a coup. By this juncture, 1963, that optimism had evaporated and Kennedy felt that obstructionists in Saigon were losing ground against a communist insurgency. Ng nh Dim: Ti thit min Nam (HNT & TTN), Vng Ng nh Dim: Giai on cc k gy cn (HNT & TTN) HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. nhng n anh ln (Nguyn Tng Phong), Phn Ho Chi Minh appeals to the American people (May 1964) Author Luke A. Nichter found the document in the Vietnamese archives. Ho Chi Minhs declaration of independence (September 1945) Enter a date in the format M/D (e.g., 1/1), President Eisenhower pledges support to South Vietnam, How the Vietnam War Ratcheted Up Under 5 U.S. Presidents, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-president-pledges-support-to-south-vietnam, Richard Burton buys Elizabeth Taylor a diamond, President Truman declares war with Germany is officially over, Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line, James Brown records breakthrough Live at the Apollo album, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid opens in wide release, Marv Albert faces sentencing in sexual assault case. Colby said the coup forces were roughly equal in strength to those that remained loyal to Diem. I am, accordingly, instructing the American Ambassador to Viet-Nam Reprinted from The Department of State Bulletin (November 15, 1954), pp. 735-736. These lists frequently overlooked Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Tho, who would ordinarily have been Diems constitutional successor. rule Communist The CIA learned of a talk he had had with ARVN commanders in the Saigon area where Nhu asserted that a cutoff of foreign aid would not be a problem because South Vietnam had enough foreign currency reserves to continue for 20 years. One can see the flurry of activity in August, during the first serious discussion of a coup shortly after Lodges arrival in Saigon. DIEM'S DEATH 'SHOCKED' KENNEDY - The Washington Post Again, the 2003 E-book presented an array of materials on these events (Documents 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28), ranging from Kennedys White House sessions to monitor events, to the CIA daily situation reports, to a cable relating several versions of how Diem and Nhu died, to a CIA retrospective analysis of press coverage of the deaths. Eisenhower made it clear to Diem that U.S. aid to his government during. maintaining a strong, viable state, capable of resisting attempted subversion or One of themthe easiest, Minh saidwas to assassinate two of Diems brothers while keeping Diem himself as a figurehead. Viet Minh call to arms against the Japanese (March 1945) Kattenburg got the impression the man had a growing neurosis. Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History - Fordham University The CIAs chronology of its contacts with ARVN plotters (Document 13) shows that the initial contacts which plunged Washington into a frenzy of deliberations on whether to support a coup in Saigon occurred that day. a leaflet calling for the people to rise up against the oppressor Diem; A letter to the Vietnamese Army telling them that Diem is just carrying on French colonialism; a 41-page document alleging Diem crimes against the people; and a leaflet that said "For the past eight years our land . Tucked away in Roger Hilsmans papers, a portion of which were deposited later at the Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library, was a CIA-created timetable of Agency contacts with South Vietnamese generals from August 23 through October 23. JFKPapers: NSF: Country File: b. General Vo Nguyen Giap on why the US will lose in Vietnam (1966) McNamara and Taylors report on South Vietnam (October 1963) 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. 4, f.: Vietnam 9/119/20/63 [II]. Lodge spoke with Harkins on the afternoon on October 23. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. Nhus attempts to fend off criticism or ingratiate himself with Washington failed. Kennedys associates concluded early on that Ngo Dinh Nhu had to go. An American press report on the Binh Xuyen (April 1955) Kennedy pledges support for Diem, South Vietnam (December 1961) An American ally against communism in Asia, Diem embarked on a two-week visit to the United States. Tng - Bn c n cn (T Gn) The War Powers Act curtails the presidents authority to wage war (November 1973) President Eisenhower's Letter to Ngo Dinh Diem, President of the Diem was Catholic, and in 1945 the communists in Vietnam had imprisoned him and then exiled him to Chiang Kai-shek's China. Ci He was an extraordinary character, while he became increasingly difficult in the last few months. Forrestal also commented, without further elaboration, that others had not been privy to the latest Lodge-JFK private communications. that the United States is able to assist in this humanitarian effort. At one point Ambassador Lodge personally assured General Tran Van Don that CIA operative Conein was speaking authoritatively for the U.S. LBJ Library: Bromley K. Smith Papers, b. Description: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (from left) greet South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem at Washington National Airport. The Government of the United States expects that this It was noted that in less than three years a chaotic situation resulting from years of war had been changed into one of progress and stability.

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