Why did JFK give approval for the CIA to encourage Diem's deposal?
score:15
The quick answer is the Cold War. The context surrounding the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem provides the long answer.
After WWII the US and the USSR were engaged in the Cold War. The time period from 1949-1963 saw China, North Korea, and Cuba become outright communist countries, and a short lived regime sympathetic to Moscow appeared in Guatemala. This created great fear in the US foreign policy apparatus that the Cold War was being lost one proxy state at a time. This fear is a large contributing factor to why the US had a strong commitment to Ngo Dinh Diem.
In 1963, Ngo Dinh Diem was viewed by many in the US foreign policy apparatus as having lost control of the population, and unable to defeat the communists he was at war with. The famous image of the Buddhist monk lighting himself on fire had just been published in the New York Times, and Kennedy's advisors lost faith in Ngo Dinh Diem.
In this context (fear of the spread of communism) Kennedy gave implicit approval of the assassination operation. According to Stephen Kinzer's book Overthrow Kennedy never gave explicit approval, and regretted the death of Ngo Dinh Diem.
For further reading:
For the Common Defense @ pp. 573-576
Overthrow @ pp. 149, 152-169
Upvote:1
Kennedy approved of Diem's overthrow, but naively believed assurances given that Diem would be protected and granted exile. http://consortiumnews.com/2013/11/25/jfks-embrace-of-third-world-nationalists/ It was because of Diem's murder that Kennedy immediately regretted the coup occurring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEJdtodFcDQ
Upvote:1
Question: Why did JFK give approval for the CIA to encourage Diem's "deposal"?
There is no evidence Kennedy ever approved of Diem's assassination. Kennedy gave approval for the American Embassy in Saigon to seek a leadership change. President Diem had survived two previous assassination attempts by his own Military. As a Catholic in a majority Buddhist country who systematically discriminated against Buddhists Diem was kept in power by authoritarian means. These policies in 1963 exploded into executions of hundreds of protesting buddhists across vietnam and this prompted Kennedy to look for alternatives to Diem's 9 year nepotistic authoritarian rule. The mere signalling by Kennedy that the US would accept alternative leadership was enough to incite the Vietnamese military to attempt a third coup d'etat and ultimately assassination. The two highest ranking Vietnamese Generals Dương Văn Minh and Trần Văn Đôn, respectively the Presidential Military Adviser and Army Chief of Staff, led a coup against Diệm. After Diem and his brother(Diem's principal advisor) were arrested while being transported an argument broke out between Diem's brother and Captain Nguyễn Văn Nhung in the back of the transport. After the argument got heated Captain Nguyen bayonetted Diem's brother and then shot Diem in the head killing both men.
The Death of Diem
During the journey back, Nghĩa gave his account of the assassinations to military headquarters: “As we rode back to the Joint General Staff headquarters, Diệm sat silently, but Nhu and the captain [Nhung] began to insult each other. I don’t know who started it. The name-calling grew passionate. The captain had hated Nhu before. Now he was charged with emotion.”[18] When the convoy reached a train crossing, Nghĩa said that Nhung “lunged at Nhu with a bayonet and stabbed him again and again, maybe fifteen or twenty times. Still in a rage, he turned to Diệm, took out his revolver and shot him in the head. Then he looked back at Nhu, who was lying on the floor, twitching. He put a bullet into his head too. Neither Diệm nor Nhu ever defended themselves. Their hands were tied.”
After Diem's death a Military Junta ruled Vietnam for 4 month, before it was overthrown. Captain Nguyen who had killed Diem was himself executed in that coup, he was the only fatality which brought General Nguyễn Khánh to power in 1964.
More post
- 📝 Are there any medieval manuals relating to castle building?
- 📝 Is there a name for the critical method of assessing historical narratives via the consultation of primary sources?
- 📝 Was drinking coffee with milk illegal under the Ottoman Empire?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Jesus' Mother lived in Ephesus?
- 📝 Why did non prosecuted craftsmen go to the new world in the Roanoke era?
- 📝 What is an open city?
- 📝 Were covered wagons used on the Federal Road in North GA in the early 1830's?
- 📝 What Were the Types of Sieges?
- 📝 Why did Churchill become the PM of Britain during WWII instead of Lord Halifax?
- 📝 What have warriors that would typically bear a coat of arms done to their heraldic achievements to indicate they have deserted or defected?
- 📝 What is this military march sampled in "Hell March"?
- 📝 What was the conspiratorial name of Roman Stanislaw Dmowski?
- 📝 Why did the Japanese expect the United States navy would attack the Home Islands?
- 📝 Why was Napoleon Bonaparte appointed to lead the French campaign in northern Italy?
- 📝 Can it be argued that mathematics was discovered and the study was for the most part, ancient Indian scientists?
- 📝 When the national leader is a foreigner
- 📝 What historical evidence do we have regarding the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
- 📝 Did an English company famous for its hidden purpose in the 1720s ever reveal its undertaking?
- 📝 Pushkin's daguerreotype and catalogues of early 19th century photographs
- 📝 Was Textile Armour More Effective at Stopping Arrows than Mail?
- 📝 How did Egypt become a protectorate of the British empire?
- 📝 What was the ancient Egyptian word for "soldier"?
- 📝 Was there a Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo during WW2
- 📝 Did the Romans see Africa as a black continent? Was there a perception of a divide between Africa and Europe?
- 📝 What is the use of vinegar as a component in ancient ink receipes?
- 📝 Did Iran host anti Soviet Afghan factions during the 1980's?
- 📝 What was the area of the Mamluk Sultanate?
- 📝 Does the Catholic church have a long history of child abuse, or is it something that started in our time?
- 📝 What races are being depicted in this American WWII cartoon?
- 📝 How did Urdun come to be called Jordan?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why did JFK give approval for the CIA to encourage Diem's deposal?
- 📝 Why did the USSR give Crimea to Ukraine?
- 📝 Given their reputation for fighting to the last man in the Pacific, why did 700,000 Japanese troops surrender in Manchuria?
- 📝 Historically, why did the US station their nuclear weapons in Germany for delivery through German pilots?
- 📝 Why did Mexico encourage the settlement of Texas by Americans?
- 📝 Why did it take so long for Europeans to adopt the moldboard plow?
- 📝 Why did Stalin push for the Great Purge against the Red Army in 1936?
- 📝 What historical reasons did the Nazis give for hating the Jews? How did they identify non-practicing Jews?
- 📝 Why did it take so long for the Germans to develop the first tank model in World War I?
- 📝 Why did the political parties in the US give up power to run primary elections to some states?
- 📝 Why did Argentina invade the Falklands when they did, rather than wait for the pending sale of the UK aircraft carriers to complete first?
- 📝 Did anyone warn about the potential for stock market crashes in 1929, and if so why were their warnings ignored?
- 📝 Why did J. Edgar Hoover publicly deny the existence of the Mafia for so long?
- 📝 Why did The Crown give assent to Apartheid legislation during the 1950s?
- 📝 When, where, why did clean shaving for men become the norm?
- 📝 Did Johann Tetzel really claim to be able to give indulgences even for the sin of violating the Mother of God?
- 📝 Why did people die for their religion in the 400s CE (or even now)?
- 📝 What documented criteria (if any) did the CIA use to determine targets for political assassination during the Cold War?
- 📝 Why did Russia give up its claims to the Oregon Country?
- 📝 Why did Jefferson have to 'Stretch the Constitutional Breaking Point' for the Louisiana Purchase?
- 📝 Why did Spain trade Florida to the British in exchange for Havana?
- 📝 Why did the Swabian Hohenzollern princes give away their power to the Prussian king in 1850?
- 📝 Why did it take so long for humanity to be able to cross the oceans?
- 📝 Why did the Australian IOC deny that Peter Norman was excluded from the 1972 Olympics for supporting racial equality?
- 📝 At the Battle of Waterloo, why did the French army throw so many troops into the fight for Hougoumont?
- 📝 Why did the US have a plan for the event of war against Britain in the 1920s?
- 📝 Why did the price of eggs in Britain increase much more than for other basic foods during WWI?
- 📝 Why did Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng receive different punishments for their role in the Xi'an Incident?
- 📝 Why did Uesugi Kenshin never marry? Was it common practice for Japanese Buddhists of the time?
- 📝 Why did Lord Mountbatten shrink the timeline for the withdrawal of British troops from India?