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America made a commitment to South Vietnam,and to its President
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Ngo Dinh Diem in the 1950s under President Eisenhower.
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Mr. President, it is a great joy for me to be again in Washington,
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and a great honor to be welcomed by you.
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I thank you very much.
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By late 1963, Diem was dead, the U.S. government implicated in his downfall.
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This is the story of the beginning of America's war in Vietnam.
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America had given France more than $2 billion to
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stop the Communist-led Vietminh in Indochina.
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But in 1954, after eight years of war
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and a hundred years of colonial rule, the French were defeated.
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The Geneva cease-fire agreement imposed a temporary division of Vietnam.
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The French could retain their influence in the South.
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A Communist regime, headed by Ho Chi Minh, took over the North.
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To many Vietnamese, the Vietminh were nationalist heroes,
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finally victorious in the long war against the French,
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finally in control of their capital city, Hanoi.
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To America's leaders, Ho Chi Minh represented
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international communism directed by Moscow.
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And, after China's fall to the Communists only five years before,
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they saw Ho's victory as another threat to the West.
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I saw everywhere that there were people
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who were frightened and worried at the evidence,
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either within their own country or in very close proximity to it,
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of aggressive Chinese Communist intentions.
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It would seem as though it was quite possible that
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the Chinese Communists are not content to stop until it is apparent
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that they are stopped by superior resistance.
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In the South, American hopes for building an Anti-Communist state
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centered on Ngo Dinh Diem, a little-known nationalist
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appointed Prime Minister during the Geneva Conference.
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Diem had disliked French rule.
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Now, he was inheriting their shaky bureaucracy, a demoralized army,
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and a capital, Saigon, seething with fierce political rivalries.
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He also faced a two-year deadline.
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The Geneva agreements called for country-wide elections in 1956.
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If Ho Chi Minh won, the Communists would control all of Vietnam.
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The Eisenhower Administration was uncertain about Diem:
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could he rally the southern population and stop the spread of communism?
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It was the end of August 1954,
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a month and a half after my brother Diem had come to power.
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I arrived in Saigon to find that my brother couldn't
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count on his government workers,
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because everybody was panicky,
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completely convinced that the end was upon them.
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The advance, the Communist victory, would be at any moment.
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The government people had no intention of working.
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Everybody was trying to figure out
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how they were going to get out of this hornet's nest.
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Diem had been appointed by Bao Dai,
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the playboy emperor picked by the French.
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He had few allies in South Vietnam.
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As austere Catholic, he had gone to America in the early 1950s
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secluded himself in a New Jersey seminary. Father John Keegan.
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He was, well, a mysterious kind of person because we didn't know
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quite exactly what he was all about.
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He didn't seem to us to be very important.
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He did dishes with us, and people of importance didn't do that;
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students did that, or brothers did that, and here was Diem, you know,
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doing dishes at the tables with the rest of the students.
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We were impressed with his devoutness.
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As seminarians, we were up at five-thirty in the morning,
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and Diem would already be in a pew meditating, reflecting.
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He would attend mass every morning, you know, quite devoutly,
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as far as we could see, and stay afterwards and pray.
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It was almost as though he were living the life of a monk.
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By the fall of 1954, refugees from the North,
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most of them Catholics, were fleeing towards the South.
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Many had worked with the French, and they feared Communist reprisals.
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Many expected that Diem, a Catholic, would favor them.
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About 900,000 Catholics, under their village Catholic priests,
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moved from north to south.
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There was only a handful of people that moved from south to north
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to get away from the Diem government.
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These refugees were settled by parishes in areas
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that were prepared for them by the South Vietnamese government.
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But they remained as Catholic enclaves.
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And, very much as the Southerners following our Civil War
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objected to the carpet-baggers that came from the North
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and took over a good many of the political posts in the South,
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so also the South Vietnamese strongly objected
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to the Diem adherents who came south.
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The refugees added to the confusion in the South,
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but Washington saw their value as a solid anti-Communist base for Diem,
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and as touching symbols of the Cold War.
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American agents assigned to the North used propaganda to spur the migration.
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Their chief, a veteran CIA specialist, was Colonel Edward Lansdale.
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Some people were very reluctant about leaving home,
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so that the efforts on the propaganda were informative and also,
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uh, sort of urging them or nudging them real hard to come to a decision quickly,
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because there would be a period when free movement wouldn't be permitted.
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So the orders to these people started turning into sharper and sharper
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form to get them to move and to overcome their reluctance
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at a time of great demoralization of the people.
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To signal the growing American commitment to Diem,
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President Eisenhower dispatched a new special envoy,
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his World War II colleague General J. Lawton Collins.
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Collins, instructed to help train an army for Diem,
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recommended $100 million in aid for the new government.
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Well, when I arrived in Saigon, it was chaotic.
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No question about that.
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The very day that I arrived the chief of staff of the Vietnamese Army,
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Hinh, was inveighing against Diem over a radio that was supported,
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as a matter of fact, by U.S. aid.
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All through the night, command cars and machine gun carriers
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and army armored cars drove around and around the government palace.
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Well I put a stop to that right off the bat, I can assure you.
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Hinh said he was going to stay on,
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and he hinted that he would start a rebellion.
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I assured him that if he did that,
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then all military aid to Vietnam would cease.
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And so finally, by putting pressure on Hinh,
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I got him to leave town in, oh, in about a week.
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And as a matter of fact, he never returned again.
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More challengers emerged from the chaos of South Vietnamese politics.
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Two of them headed armed religious factions.
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Another, backed by the French, was a former river pirate,
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now a notorious gangster and opium dealer.
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Bay Vien was his name.
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He controlled the secret police, mind you, of Vietnam.
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He also controlled all the houses of prostitution and the gambling joints,
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and this was the source of his strength.
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Bay Vien tried to make a deal with Diem, but Diem refused.
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In open defiance of the powerful gangster,
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he staged a symbolic burning of opium pipes.
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Then he attacked Bay Vien's headquarters --
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located in Saigon's central police station.
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Diem's challenge seemed nearly suicidal to Collins.
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But Lansdale, now Diem's closest American adviser, believed in him.
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Diem was laughing at me.
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We were out on the front porch, and he said,
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"You are standing about where I think the first shell is going to hit
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and it's going to be coming in in about 20 minutes
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and you better get out of here; and I'm not initiating, I'm receiving here."
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And sure enough, 20 minutes later the firing broke out against him.
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Bay Vien's private army fought Diem's troops through the streets of Saigon.
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The risks for Diem were enormous.
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Unless he could consolidate his power, he would lose American support.
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He had already lost Collins.
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I liked Diem, but I became convinced that he did not have the political knack,
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nor the strength of character, politically,
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to manage this bizarre collection of people in Vietnam.
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We have called General Collins back here,
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a man in whom we've had the greatest of confidence
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and who has been right in the thick of things out there,
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and who had been supporting, of course, Premier Diem.
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Now there have occurred lots of difficulties.
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People have left the cabinet and so on;
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you know what most of those difficulties are.
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The strange...and it's almost an inexplicable situation,
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at least from our viewpoint. Diem prevailed.
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Blocks of Saigon lay in ruins, but he had crushed his enemies.
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Their surrender was a personal triumph for him, but it set a dangerous pattern:
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distrustful and stubborn, Diem would never compromise.
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He would confront and defy all opposition.
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And the government of Diem, which seemed to be...eh...
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almost on the ropes...uh...a few weeks ago,
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I think is reestablished with strength.
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Vietnam is now a free nation, at least the southern half of it is.
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And it's not got a puppet government, it's not got a government
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that we can give orders to and tell what we want it to do
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or we want it to refrain from doing.
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If it was that kind of a government, we wouldn't be justified in supporting it.
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In the early days, just after his installation when he took over,
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we had this group of Americans, all of whom had tremendous ideas
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of how to further the efforts of the country,
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of how to get this thing rolling, of how to get the country started,
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get the government organized and formed and going.
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We convinced him that he was not too well known and that
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Ho Chi Minh was very well known by everybody,
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and therefore that he should build up his popularity.
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He made a series of long trips throughout the countryside, got big receptions.
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There was, of course, an organized claque to get them enthusiastic.
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And he began to believe in this, that this was a good public relations ploy,
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that he could succeed in being a popular president.
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Ho Chi Minh's followers believed the country-wide elections in 1956
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would bring them to power in a reunified Vietnam.
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They had withdrawn their troops from the South,
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But the Geneva agreements allowed their political organizers
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to remain there and rally support for Ho.
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I and my family were very happy and supportive of the Geneva agreement
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because we believed that there would not be any reprisal against
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the people who re-grouped to the North, and those who remained behind.
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We thought that in two years we would have a free and fair election
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in which the people could freely choose their own government.
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The U.S. had opposed the Geneva agreements, but pledged to respect them.
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Diem, who had condemned the accords, now resisted the nationwide election.
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Dulles has to decide what to do.
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He sat very quietly; we all sat very quietly.
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I can recall distinctly the clock ticking away on his wall,
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and his breathing heavily as he read through the paper, turning to us,
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the few of us who were there at that meeting and saying...
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"I don't believe Diem wants to hold elections;
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I believe we should support him in this."
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There is this about it. At that time, we had a dictator
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that was now controlling more than half the country,
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and with a great deal of the population,
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and he would get a hundred percent of the vote!
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The Americans and Diem carried the day.
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There were no country-wide elections.
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Vietnam remained divided, and Washington welcomed Diem as a hero.
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You have exemplified in your corner of the world patriotism of the highest order.
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You have brought to your great task of organizing your country
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the greatest of courage, the greatest of statesmanship.
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You are indeed welcome sir.
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Without American support, Diem would never have survived.
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With it, he seemed to have done the impossible.
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Washington held him up to the world as a model of anti-communism,
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the miracle man of Asia.
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Diem welcomed the weapons and the dollars,
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but he often resisted the Americans' advice.
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He was polite, but he was rigid and proud, and fiercely nationalistic.
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I think he looked upon us as great big children -- well intentioned,
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powerful, with a lot of technical know-how, but not very sophisticated
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in dealing with him or his race, or his country's problems.
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During the late 1950s, Diem's problems grew.
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Like a traditional Vietnamese mandarin,
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he drew his small circle closer around him,relying on his family,
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especially his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu and Nhu's wife.
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Their secret police, run by Nhu, set out to
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eliminate Communists and other dissidents.
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After the Vietminh army regrouped to the North
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and the Diem regime took over the South, repression began.
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Those of us who had directly fought against the French,
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and people who had helped organize the resistance against them,
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were the special targets of Diem's revenge.
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The manners of tortures inflicted upon these people
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by Ngo Dinh Diem and his hound dogs --
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this was our term for the secret police -- were extremely inhumane.
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We were not Catholics; we only worshipped our ancestors.
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And so they forced us to throw the altar to the ancestors away
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and to become Catholics and to denounce the Communists.
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They had, in some provinces, eliminated most of the stay-behind
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political agents, the ones that had exposed themselves and
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proselytized the people and began to complain against the government.
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But in doing this with this heavy-handed police apparatus that
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he had set up,they also harmed and incarcerated and eliminated
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a lot of people who were not involved with the Communist movement.
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As the Americans and Diem became more and more repressive,
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people started telling us we'd have to fight.
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They said we'd be wiped out if we kept to our plan of just political struggle.
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This film marked a new phase of the struggle in the South,
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the formation in 1960 of the National Liberation Front,
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a Communist-organized coalition of anti-Diem forces.
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Denied the election promised at Geneva,
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and nearly destroyed by Diem and Nhu's police,the Communist leadership
247
00:20:51,002 --> 00:20:53,890
and its southern supporters decided to go back to war.
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It would be, they said, a war of national liberation --
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against Diem and against the American presence in Vietnam.
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You will not be able to strangle the voice of the people,
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which roars out and will go on sounding:
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Down with colonialism! The sooner we bury it, and the deeper, the better.
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00:21:24,803 --> 00:21:28,526
At the U.N., Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
254
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encouraged wars of national liberation.
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The new president took over in an atmosphere of grave threats
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00:21:36,006 --> 00:21:38,779
and confrontation between East and West.
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John Kennedy was in office only a few months when he suffered
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a humiliating defeat at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba.
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00:21:47,736 --> 00:21:52,872
Communist leader Fidel Castro crushed a secret American plan to oust him
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and then paraded his prisoners for the world to see.
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The invasion planning had begun before Kennedy took office
262
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and Eisenhower joined him during the crisis.
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00:22:09,479 --> 00:22:14,045
Soon, a badly shaken Kennedy faced questions on another war
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of national liberation -- in Vietnam.
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The problem of troops is a matter, that -- and the matter of
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00:22:23,896 --> 00:22:27,499
what we're going to do to assist Vietnam to retainn
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its independence is a matter -- still under consideration.
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There are a good many...which I think can most usefully wait
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'til we've had consultation with the government...
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which, up to the present time...which will be one of the matters
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which Vice President Johnson will deal with
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the problem of consultations with the government of Vietnam
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as to what further steps could most usefully be taken.
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Kennedy sent his vice president, Lyndon Johnson, to Saigon to reassure Diem.
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00:22:54,947 --> 00:22:58,967
The U.S. seemed to be faltering, and Diem was worried.
276
00:22:59,002 --> 00:23:03,567
Johnson performed like a Texas politician on the campaign trail.
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Tell 'em that in the battle for Britain,
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when the clouds were over the little island of England,
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Churchill said, "We'll fight 'em in the alleys, in the streets...
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On his tour around Saigon, Vice President Johnson has stopped his motorcade.
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He talks to just about anybody around.
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Now he's taking a ride in what's known as a "pedicab."
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00:23:30,381 --> 00:23:35,037
Johnson really enjoys this kind of thing.
284
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Nothing fazes him; he tries everything.
285
00:23:40,313 --> 00:23:45,706
President Kennedy was determined on this one because of
286
00:23:45,741 --> 00:23:48,957
a number of early setbacks -- the Bay of Pigs, to begin;
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00:23:48,992 --> 00:23:54,715
the dressing-down, in effect, that he got from Khruschchev
288
00:23:54,750 --> 00:23:59,092
in the Vienna Conference when he first...when they first met each other...
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00:23:59,127 --> 00:24:04,978
And finally, the Berlin Wall. So Vietnam was the point.
290
00:24:05,013 --> 00:24:08,689
Kennedy and his men saw themselves in a struggle with Khrushchev
291
00:24:08,724 --> 00:24:10,477
for the loyalty of new nations.
292
00:24:10,512 --> 00:24:15,030
To them, "national liberation" was code for "Communist aggression."
293
00:24:15,065 --> 00:24:18,630
South Vietnam is already under attack.
294
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Sometimes by a single assassin.Some-times by a band of guerrillas.
295
00:24:24,898 --> 00:24:27,814
Recently by full battalions.
296
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The peaceful borders of Burma, Cambodia and India
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have been repeatedly violated.
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And the peaceful people of Laos are in danger of losing
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00:24:40,043 --> 00:24:43,435
the independence they gained not so long ago.
300
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No one can call these wars of liberation.
301
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For these are free countries, living under their own governments.
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00:24:53,345 --> 00:24:58,557
Nor are these aggressions any less real because men are knifed
303
00:24:58,592 --> 00:25:02,604
in their homes and not shot in the field of battle.
304
00:25:02,639 --> 00:25:08,594
In October 1961, two key Kennedy advisers,
305
00:25:08,629 --> 00:25:13,412
General Maxwell Taylor and Walt Rostow, arrived in Vietnam.
306
00:25:16,942 --> 00:25:20,186
Their visit coincided with a serious flood.
307
00:25:20,221 --> 00:25:23,823
They recommended a big increase in military aid,
308
00:25:23,858 --> 00:25:28,187
including U.S. combat troops disguised as flood fighters.
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00:25:28,222 --> 00:25:32,991
Diem said no to the troops.
310
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He needed U.S. support, but he wanted to keep control,
311
00:25:35,937 --> 00:25:38,522
and he wanted to keep the foreigners out.
312
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He feared an overwhelming American influence.
313
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That was one of the reasons he didn't want American combat forces.
314
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He was, to my mind, prescient in this, and said, in effect,
315
00:25:56,206 --> 00:25:58,494
he thought it would be a bonanza for the Vietcong.
316
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Kennedy, too, was reluctant to send ground troops,
317
00:26:06,035 --> 00:26:07,843
but he wanted to be tough.
318
00:26:07,878 --> 00:26:12,162
The answer for "little wars" -- guerrilla wars like South Vietnam's
319
00:26:12,197 --> 00:26:13,848
--was counterinsurgency.
320
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Special forces, like the Green Berets,
321
00:26:16,682 --> 00:26:19,210
were sent to train the troops of threatened countries.
322
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They went in small numbers, but they brought with them
323
00:26:22,909 --> 00:26:25,601
the best of American military technology.
324
00:26:28,282 --> 00:26:34,708
Counterinsurgency was stylish and exciting, and it suited JFK's needs perfectly.
325
00:26:34,743 --> 00:26:38,375
One of its strongest proponents was Kennedy aide Roger Hilsman.
326
00:26:38,410 --> 00:26:43,189
My idea was that the role of the special forces were to train Vietnamese
327
00:26:43,224 --> 00:26:47,636
to behave as guerrillas, harassing the supply lines
328
00:26:47,671 --> 00:26:50,649
down through the mountains of the Vietcong.
329
00:26:50,684 --> 00:26:53,397
And the special -- American special forces were to train
330
00:26:53,432 --> 00:26:55,920
their special forces to do that.
331
00:26:59,770 --> 00:27:04,207
The Communist-led movement in the South, now termed the Vietcong,
332
00:27:04,242 --> 00:27:07,340
had made big gains in 1961.
333
00:27:07,375 --> 00:27:11,787
With increased U.S. aid and the new counterinsurgency program,
334
00:27:11,822 --> 00:27:14,574
Kennedy raised America's ante.
335
00:27:14,609 --> 00:27:20,478
He would win this limited war -- with a few American advisers,
336
00:27:20,513 --> 00:27:23,558
a lot of American hardware, and a positive attitude...
337
00:27:23,593 --> 00:27:27,712
I feel that being humble and putting yourself in their position
338
00:27:27,747 --> 00:27:29,541
is the way to do it.
339
00:27:29,576 --> 00:27:33,482
I have gone out and helped them pick watermelons.
340
00:27:33,517 --> 00:27:37,288
I walk around with my bodyguard, he and I, and we go visit them
341
00:27:37,323 --> 00:27:40,502
and drink tea with them in their houses -- in their houses --
342
00:27:40,537 --> 00:27:43,872
and this is an oddity to them because they, they can't imagine
343
00:27:43,907 --> 00:27:46,170
that an American can put himself in this position.
344
00:27:46,205 --> 00:27:50,675
So there-fore, it's going to be the man who can give them the most,
345
00:27:50,710 --> 00:27:54,052
show them that he...they can support them better
346
00:27:54,087 --> 00:27:56,704
that will win their confidence and win their support.
347
00:27:56,739 --> 00:28:00,356
And, as you know, it's the man who gets the support of this farmer
348
00:28:00,391 --> 00:28:02,206
who is going to eventually win this war.
349
00:28:09,299 --> 00:28:14,794
Absolute loyalty to the fatherland and the President of the Republic of Vietnam
350
00:28:22,443 --> 00:28:26,516
We swear to sacrifice ourselves to defend our country
351
00:28:26,551 --> 00:28:29,793
and the personalist republic regime.
352
00:28:29,828 --> 00:28:34,711
The ceremonies hid widening cracks inside the regime.
353
00:28:34,746 --> 00:28:40,595
In early 1962, two of Diem's own air force officers bombed the palace,
354
00:28:40,630 --> 00:28:43,807
hoping to topple the tightly-knit ruling family.
355
00:28:50,883 --> 00:28:52,463
Madame Nhu was injured.
356
00:28:53,765 --> 00:28:56,535
Just next to me was a bomb that had fallen.
357
00:28:56,570 --> 00:28:59,483
It was fat like this, just like a little pig.
358
00:28:59,518 --> 00:29:05,554
It hadn't exploded; it was just there. And I was just there, too.
359
00:29:07,837 --> 00:29:09,753
Are you afraid of death?
360
00:29:09,788 --> 00:29:13,657
Me? Oh, no, not at all...because in my country,
361
00:29:13,692 --> 00:29:15,831
death is always just around the corner.
362
00:29:15,866 --> 00:29:18,890
If you're afraid of it, you can't do anything.
363
00:29:18,925 --> 00:29:26,185
The Vietcong had assassinated 500 civilians and Diem officials,
364
00:29:26,220 --> 00:29:30,611
and killed 1,500 of his troops in the first half of 1961.
365
00:29:30,646 --> 00:29:34,010
VC influence in the country-side was growing.
366
00:29:37,008 --> 00:29:41,205
Diem's brother, Nhu, encouraged by U.S. advisers,
367
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,550
promoted a program to isolated peasants from the guerrillas.
368
00:29:44,585 --> 00:29:50,277
He ordered the construction of thousands of fortified villages, "strategic hamlets."
369
00:29:57,576 --> 00:30:01,899
We are building strategic hamlets to bring peace throughout the country.
370
00:30:01,934 --> 00:30:04,864
This was their motto and their code of faith.
371
00:30:04,899 --> 00:30:09,709
Volunteers from every class and age, men and women and children,
372
00:30:09,744 --> 00:30:12,544
began the hard, physical work of construction.
373
00:30:12,579 --> 00:30:17,224
First they broke arable land to make the deep moats and the high fences.
374
00:30:23,848 --> 00:30:26,815
First came the moat around the entire village.
375
00:30:26,850 --> 00:30:30,594
The bamboo spikes, making an ancient but
376
00:30:30,629 --> 00:30:33,555
thoroughly efficient protection against invaders,
377
00:30:33,590 --> 00:30:36,741
have become the trademark of the strategic hamlets,
378
00:30:36,776 --> 00:30:40,597
and each spike is cut and set by willing hands.
379
00:30:44,549 --> 00:30:50,177
In reality, life inside the spiky perimeter didn't measure up to the ideal.
380
00:30:53,256 --> 00:30:56,890
Diem's half-hearted land reform in the '50s had failed,
381
00:30:56,925 --> 00:31:01,819
and now the already resentful farmers were forced to relocate to the hamlets,
382
00:31:01,854 --> 00:31:04,462
which were targets for Vietcong attacks.
383
00:31:08,534 --> 00:31:14,586
Defense Secretary McNamara toured some hamlets with Ambassador Nolting in May 1962.
384
00:31:14,621 --> 00:31:18,880
Though American officials had private reservations about the program,
385
00:31:18,915 --> 00:31:21,614
McNamara publicly praised it.
386
00:31:24,715 --> 00:31:28,137
The Americans were trying to be optimistic
387
00:31:28,172 --> 00:31:33,996
Major, how would you say the war was going in your sector?
388
00:31:34,031 --> 00:31:38,390
Well, I think here, lately, the... it's going a lot better;
389
00:31:38,425 --> 00:31:40,669
I think we're beginning to win the people over;
390
00:31:40,704 --> 00:31:44,683
our operations are going better. We're actually getting VC.
391
00:31:44,718 --> 00:31:48,364
What evidence do you have that the... you're winning the people over?
392
00:31:48,399 --> 00:31:52,976
Well, we've got the "strategic hamlet" program going on.
393
00:31:53,011 --> 00:31:55,797
And when we go out on these operations,
394
00:31:55,832 --> 00:31:57,362
it seems like the people are more friendly.
395
00:31:57,397 --> 00:32:02,925
Several times recently we've had people warn the Vietnamese troops
396
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:05,218
that there was an ambush ahead, or something like that.
397
00:32:05,253 --> 00:32:07,582
This means the people are getting on our side.
398
00:32:09,883 --> 00:32:13,703
It was just a year ago that you ordered stepped-up aid to Vietnam.
399
00:32:13,738 --> 00:32:17,002
Seems to be a good deal of discouragement about the progress.
400
00:32:17,037 --> 00:32:18,833
Can you give us your assessment?
401
00:32:18,868 --> 00:32:21,311
No, we are putting in a major effort in Vietnam.
402
00:32:21,346 --> 00:32:24,365
As you know, we have uh, have about ten or 11 times
403
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,195
as many men there as we had a year ago.
404
00:32:26,230 --> 00:32:30,741
They are... We've had a number of casualties.
405
00:32:30,776 --> 00:32:32,170
We've put in an awful lot of equipment.
406
00:32:32,205 --> 00:32:34,768
We've been going ahead with the strategic hamlet proposal.
407
00:32:34,803 --> 00:32:38,531
In some phases the military program has been quite successful.
408
00:32:38,566 --> 00:32:41,695
There is great difficulty, however, in fighting a guerrilla war;
409
00:32:41,730 --> 00:32:43,734
you need ten to one, or 11 to one,
410
00:32:43,769 --> 00:32:46,372
especially in terrain as difficult as South Vietnam.
411
00:32:46,407 --> 00:32:50,449
But I'm, uh... so we're not, uh... we don't see the end of the tunnel;
412
00:32:50,484 --> 00:32:53,634
but, I must say, I don't think it's darker than it was a year ago
413
00:32:53,669 --> 00:32:54,874
in some ways, lighter.
414
00:32:54,909 --> 00:32:59,074
But there was rising opposition to Diem's government,
415
00:32:59,109 --> 00:33:02,595
especially to his brother Nhu,who controlled the secret police
416
00:33:02,630 --> 00:33:05,245
and an elaborate intelligence network.
417
00:33:08,611 --> 00:33:12,832
Brilliant and eccentric, Nhu was at war not only with the Communists,
418
00:33:12,867 --> 00:33:15,056
but with all critics of the regime.
419
00:33:15,091 --> 00:33:23,214
My husband, he was very unhappy with... on one side his brother,
420
00:33:23,249 --> 00:33:26,199
the other side, his wife.
421
00:33:26,234 --> 00:33:31,539
He considered both of us babes in the woods.
422
00:33:31,574 --> 00:33:36,064
He said to his brother, "You should be a monk," and "You," to me, "
423
00:33:36,099 --> 00:33:39,654
"just keep quiet -- don't say anything."
424
00:33:42,980 --> 00:33:47,144
Vietnam had been a concern to the Kennedy Administration,
425
00:33:47,179 --> 00:33:49,139
but it was not a major concern.
426
00:33:53,380 --> 00:33:58,214
Suddenly, in the spring of 1963, it became a crisis.
427
00:33:58,249 --> 00:34:01,969
Buddhist groups, protesting that Diem's soldiers
428
00:34:02,004 --> 00:34:05,300
had killed eight worshippers while breaking up a gathering in Hue,
429
00:34:05,335 --> 00:34:07,769
began a series of demonstrations.
430
00:34:11,489 --> 00:34:15,832
At first, Diem and his family did not take the Buddhists seriously.
431
00:34:18,949 --> 00:34:25,760
My brother Diem, the president, never stopped giving aid
432
00:34:25,795 --> 00:34:27,751
and good advice to the Buddhists.
433
00:34:27,786 --> 00:34:34,335
He used to say to them, "Try to do something to reorganize your religion.
434
00:34:38,301 --> 00:34:42,010
As it is now, just about anyone can say he's a good Buddhist.
435
00:34:42,045 --> 00:34:46,537
All he has to do is shave his head and eyebrows and put on a robe."
436
00:34:46,572 --> 00:34:49,466
As the demonstrations grew,
437
00:34:49,501 --> 00:34:53,184
Diem rejected compromise and met the challengers with force.
438
00:34:53,219 --> 00:34:55,950
A Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc,
439
00:34:55,985 --> 00:34:59,346
countered with a traditional act that horrified the West.
440
00:35:02,034 --> 00:35:07,151
The Reverend Quang Duc decided to dedicate his body as a torch
441
00:35:07,186 --> 00:35:10,222
to light the struggle to preserve religious teaching.
442
00:35:13,736 --> 00:35:18,079
I saw him step out of his car and assume the lotus position.
443
00:35:18,114 --> 00:35:22,311
Then a monk stepped forward
444
00:35:22,346 --> 00:35:24,997
and helped the Reverend pour gasoline on himself.
445
00:35:25,032 --> 00:35:28,611
At that moment, a flame engulfed his body.
446
00:35:38,918 --> 00:35:41,789
The photos hit the front pages in America
447
00:35:41,824 --> 00:35:44,095
and were on Kennedy's desk in the morning.
448
00:35:44,130 --> 00:35:47,089
Quang Duc had become a martyr.
449
00:35:50,218 --> 00:35:55,951
Saigon students joined the Buddhists and the protests against Diem exploded.
450
00:35:58,344 --> 00:36:01,051
During the Reverend Quang Duc's cremation,
451
00:36:01,086 --> 00:36:07,074
everything was burned except for his heart, which remained intact.
452
00:36:07,109 --> 00:36:12,329
His heart was set on fire two more times, but it still did not burn.
453
00:36:23,212 --> 00:36:29,890
What have the Buddhist leaders done comparatively...
454
00:36:29,925 --> 00:36:36,900
the only thing they have done,they have barbecued one of their monks
455
00:36:36,935 --> 00:36:42,662
whom they have intoxicated, whom they have abused the confidence,
456
00:36:42,697 --> 00:36:49,864
and even that barbecuing was done not even with self-sufficient means
457
00:36:49,899 --> 00:36:53,642
because they used imported gasoline.
458
00:36:53,677 --> 00:36:58,655
The Buddhists bit, tasted a little political blood, bit harder,
459
00:36:58,690 --> 00:37:02,739
tasted more political blood, and then finally began to use American television.
460
00:37:02,774 --> 00:37:06,195
They would--none of them spoke English but their signs were all in English.
461
00:37:06,230 --> 00:37:09,397
And every time they planned a demonstration,
462
00:37:09,432 --> 00:37:11,932
or a Buddhist burned himself to death
463
00:37:12,037 --> 00:37:15,554
they would call up the American press,and they would appear and,...
464
00:37:15,589 --> 00:37:21,367
So they learned to use the American press media for political purposes;
465
00:37:21,402 --> 00:37:24,456
they learned how to develop political power as they went along.
466
00:37:28,087 --> 00:37:31,895
The Buddhist affair and the problems with the students
467
00:37:35,301 --> 00:37:41,823
were set up and orchestrated in such a way
468
00:37:41,858 --> 00:37:45,187
as to intoxicate public opinion here at home
469
00:37:45,222 --> 00:37:50,546
and abroad against the government of South Vietnam...
470
00:37:54,003 --> 00:37:57,493
because this government fights the Communists,
471
00:37:57,528 --> 00:38:00,602
and because it refuses to be a puppet government.
472
00:38:00,637 --> 00:38:09,570
In the convulsive summer of 1963, events raced far beyond Washington's control.
473
00:38:16,188 --> 00:38:19,130
The Buddhists became the rallying point
474
00:38:19,165 --> 00:38:21,764
for long-simmering opposition to Diem.
475
00:38:21,799 --> 00:38:26,403
Alarmed, Diem's senior army officers began to talk of ousting him.
476
00:38:26,438 --> 00:38:32,143
Ambassador Nolting stood by Diem.
477
00:38:32,178 --> 00:38:39,320
I never felt that President Diem was a prisoner of his own family,
478
00:38:39,355 --> 00:38:44,281
or of any particular group, Roman Catholic or any other.
479
00:38:44,316 --> 00:38:50,452
I felt that he had a very difficult job to govern the country in a way
480
00:38:50,487 --> 00:38:54,140
which would not permit the Vietcong to take over.
481
00:38:54,175 --> 00:38:59,639
But Hilsman and others in Washington had decided
482
00:38:59,674 --> 00:39:01,298
that Diem and Nhu should go.
483
00:39:05,307 --> 00:39:09,245
Ambassador Nolting, Diem's ally, returned home.
484
00:39:13,365 --> 00:39:17,461
The new ambassador was Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican.
485
00:39:17,496 --> 00:39:21,620
Kennedy wanted bipartisan company in the Vietnam crisis.
486
00:39:21,655 --> 00:39:28,958
Diem and Nhu struck again at the Buddhists even before Lodge reached Saigon.
487
00:39:28,993 --> 00:39:32,769
Nhu's special forces raided the temples, sealed them shut,
488
00:39:32,804 --> 00:39:35,251
and arrested thousands of Buddhists.
489
00:39:37,715 --> 00:39:42,788
Diem's generals, increasingly frustrated, started to plot against the government.
490
00:39:45,575 --> 00:39:49,262
In the Vietnamese army, a majority of the soldiers were Buddhists.
491
00:39:49,297 --> 00:39:51,562
I am a Buddhist.
492
00:39:51,597 --> 00:39:54,177
I had a lot of trouble with my family,
493
00:39:54,212 --> 00:39:56,748
who reproached me for having attacked the pagodas.
494
00:39:56,783 --> 00:39:58,463
But it wasn't true.
495
00:39:58,498 --> 00:40:01,454
People were saying that the army staged the attacks,
496
00:40:01,489 --> 00:40:05,248
but actually it was units loyal to Diem who attacked the pagodas.
497
00:40:05,283 --> 00:40:08,746
But that doesn't matter. We were equally responsible.
498
00:40:08,781 --> 00:40:11,343
So then we had to do something to show Diem:
499
00:40:11,378 --> 00:40:16,343
either he had to change his policies, or we would have to change Mr. Diem.
500
00:40:16,378 --> 00:40:24,027
I talked to, specifically to General Don, and I talked to other generals.
501
00:40:24,062 --> 00:40:28,262
And then this was the first indication that I had that
502
00:40:28,297 --> 00:40:31,001
there was really something serious going on --
503
00:40:35,571 --> 00:40:35,921
that there was actually a coup, so to speak,
504
00:40:35,956 --> 00:40:39,874
being thought of by the senior officers of the Vietnamese army.
505
00:40:39,909 --> 00:40:45,563
The U.S. was now spending a million and a half dollars a day on the war.
506
00:40:45,598 --> 00:40:49,727
There were 16,000 American soldiers in South Vietnam,
507
00:40:49,762 --> 00:40:53,355
still called "advisers," but inevitably seeing action.
508
00:40:56,735 --> 00:41:00,557
The growing crisis in the cities threatened the Diem government
509
00:41:00,592 --> 00:41:02,404
and the whole war effort.
510
00:41:02,439 --> 00:41:05,934
The generals, through Conein, secretly asked Lodge
511
00:41:05,969 --> 00:41:08,729
for American support in their plot to topple Diem.
512
00:41:08,764 --> 00:41:15,255
Suspecting a coup, Diem and Nhu declared martial law.
513
00:41:15,290 --> 00:41:21,753
Lodge cabled Washington for instructions.
514
00:41:25,014 --> 00:41:28,352
The prospect of a coup split the Kennedy ranks.
515
00:41:28,387 --> 00:41:31,146
But four top advisers took the initiative,
516
00:41:31,181 --> 00:41:34,228
cabling Lodge to tell Diem to get rid of Nhu.
517
00:41:34,263 --> 00:41:38,674
If Diem refused, Lodge could tell the generals to go ahead.
518
00:41:38,709 --> 00:41:43,538
I brought up this question of getting Nhu out of the country,
519
00:41:43,573 --> 00:41:50,477
and he, he absolutely refused to discuss any of the things
520
00:41:50,512 --> 00:41:52,564
that I was instructed to discuss.
521
00:41:52,599 --> 00:41:56,273
And it gave me a little jolt, frankly.
522
00:41:56,308 --> 00:41:59,995
I think that when an ambassador goes to call on a chief of state
523
00:42:00,030 --> 00:42:04,152
and he has been instructed by the President to bring up certain things,
524
00:42:04,187 --> 00:42:07,105
the chief of state ought to at least talk about them.
525
00:42:07,140 --> 00:42:11,796
Without him, the president would not be... I don't think that
526
00:42:11,831 --> 00:42:18,356
it would be easy for him to rule, to rule the country -- to govern the country.
527
00:42:18,391 --> 00:42:25,203
That's why when it was... requested... he was requested to...
528
00:42:25,238 --> 00:42:36,267
to send away my husband, he... he said, it was absolutely a stupid demand
529
00:42:36,302 --> 00:42:41,752
because he knew very well that my husband can do without him,
530
00:42:41,787 --> 00:42:44,123
but he, he could not do without my husband.
531
00:42:44,158 --> 00:42:48,174
The Buddhists continued their protests,
532
00:42:54,007 --> 00:42:58,111
and the tensions in Saigon now reverberated in Washington,
533
00:42:58,146 --> 00:43:01,004
where Kennedy still had doubts about a coup.
534
00:43:01,039 --> 00:43:07,234
The President wavered; then, in a television interview,
535
00:43:07,269 --> 00:43:09,962
he sent a subtle but sharp signal to Diem.
536
00:43:09,997 --> 00:43:12,959
In the final analysis, it's their war.
537
00:43:12,994 --> 00:43:15,418
They're the ones who have to win it or lose it.
538
00:43:15,453 --> 00:43:17,773
We can help them, we can give them equipment,
539
00:43:17,808 --> 00:43:20,130
we can send our men out there as advisers,
540
00:43:20,165 --> 00:43:23,593
but they have to win it -- the people of Vietnam against the Communists.
541
00:43:23,628 --> 00:43:27,466
We're prepared to continue to assist them, but I don't think
542
00:43:27,501 --> 00:43:30,906
that the war can be won unless the people support the effort,
543
00:43:30,941 --> 00:43:32,705
and in my opinion,in the last two months
544
00:43:32,740 --> 00:43:34,677
the government has gotten out of touch with the people.
545
00:43:34,712 --> 00:43:36,892
Do you think that this government still has time
546
00:43:36,927 --> 00:43:39,193
to regain the support of the people?
547
00:43:39,228 --> 00:43:42,842
Yes, I do. With changes in policy and, perhaps,
548
00:43:42,877 --> 00:43:45,068
with, in personnel, I think it can.
549
00:43:45,103 --> 00:43:50,056
If it doesn't make those changes, I would think
550
00:43:50,091 --> 00:43:52,166
that the chances of winning it would not be very good.
551
00:43:54,807 --> 00:43:58,200
We wanted to be certain that if we succeeded with the coup
552
00:43:58,235 --> 00:44:01,820
we would have American support afterward,
553
00:44:01,855 --> 00:44:04,404
that the Americans agreed with us
554
00:44:04,439 --> 00:44:08,227
because we needed their aid to continue the war.
555
00:44:08,262 --> 00:44:12,526
I asked Conein what the Americans thought.
556
00:44:12,561 --> 00:44:15,688
He said yes, the Americans agree.
557
00:44:15,723 --> 00:44:23,188
I don't have any files on the dates of the conversation,
558
00:44:23,223 --> 00:44:28,226
or anything like that.So I don't really know at what point...
559
00:44:28,261 --> 00:44:34,481
I know that I gave them a green light prior to the coup
560
00:44:34,516 --> 00:44:37,136
upon the instruction of my government.
561
00:44:37,171 --> 00:44:42,906
Madame Nhu toured America, trying to rally support for the beleaguered regime.
562
00:44:47,072 --> 00:44:53,365
At the same time, Nhu hinted that he might make a deal with the Communists.
563
00:44:58,424 --> 00:45:02,615
I am an anti-Communist from the point of view of doctrine.
564
00:45:02,650 --> 00:45:07,477
I am not an anti-Communist from the point of view of politics or humanity.
565
00:45:07,512 --> 00:45:13,348
I consider the Communists as brothers, lost sheep.
566
00:45:13,383 --> 00:45:19,242
I am not for a crusade against the Communists
567
00:45:19,277 --> 00:45:25,120
because we are a little country, and we only want to live in peace.
568
00:45:25,155 --> 00:45:32,212
On October 26, Vietnam's national day, Diem reviewed the troops.
569
00:45:32,247 --> 00:45:36,479
He knew that a coup was being planned.
570
00:45:36,514 --> 00:45:43,458
And he was -- I bet you he had every... every possible resource
571
00:45:43,493 --> 00:45:46,625
that he had at his disposal out trying to find out
572
00:45:46,660 --> 00:45:49,985
where they were and how to, how to destroy it.
573
00:45:50,020 --> 00:45:56,461
Lodge, through Conein, had signaled his approval of the generals' plan.
574
00:45:56,496 --> 00:45:58,953
But suspecting a double-cross,
575
00:45:58,988 --> 00:46:01,980
the generals refused to reveal the date for the coup.
576
00:46:02,015 --> 00:46:04,437
It began on November 1.
577
00:46:04,472 --> 00:46:10,820
And it was just a little after one when we heard the first shell go off.
578
00:46:10,855 --> 00:46:13,047
And then we went up onto the roof and
579
00:46:13,082 --> 00:46:15,445
you could see the planes dropping bombs
580
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:20,131
and you could see the troops starting to come down the street,
581
00:46:20,166 --> 00:46:24,504
and the thing was really on.
582
00:46:24,539 --> 00:46:27,868
Do you remember what your own feeling was at seeing all that?
583
00:46:27,903 --> 00:46:34,395
Well, my own feeling... Well, I'd sort of been living with it for,
584
00:46:34,430 --> 00:46:40,910
for many -- several weeks. So I can't say I was surprised.
585
00:46:40,945 --> 00:46:42,708
But of course, you're always --
586
00:46:42,743 --> 00:46:47,828
it's always a very interesting thing to see, to see people shooting.
587
00:46:57,227 --> 00:46:59,874
He [Diem] telephoned me, about four o'clock.
588
00:46:59,909 --> 00:47:03,150
And he said, "They've started the coup," and he said,
589
00:47:03,185 --> 00:47:06,753
"I want to know what the attitude of the United States Government is."
590
00:47:06,788 --> 00:47:09,478
"Well," I said, "it's four o'clock in the morning in Washington
591
00:47:09,513 --> 00:47:12,056
and I just, I don't know what the attitude is."
592
00:47:12,091 --> 00:47:15,487
"Oh," he said, "you must have an idea." "No," I said, "I haven't."
593
00:47:15,522 --> 00:47:19,451
But I said, "I'm very alarmed about your personal safety,
594
00:47:19,486 --> 00:47:25,657
and I have taken steps so that you can be made titular
595
00:47:25,692 --> 00:47:28,841
chief of state in a new government,
596
00:47:28,876 --> 00:47:37,870
or that you can be flown out of the country to some safe place, or else,"
597
00:47:37,905 --> 00:47:43,525
I said, "I, I offer you asylum here, in the residence."
598
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:48,355
He said, "No." He said, "I'm going to restore order."
599
00:47:48,390 --> 00:47:52,378
Will you seek political asylum in this country if the coup is successful?
600
00:47:52,413 --> 00:47:53,950
Never! Why?
601
00:47:53,985 --> 00:47:57,033
No, because I... I cannot stay in a country of people
602
00:47:57,068 --> 00:48:00,326
who have stabbed my government in time of war.
603
00:48:00,361 --> 00:48:02,175
What news do you have of your husband?
604
00:48:02,210 --> 00:48:04,126
And first I do not think that it will succeed.
605
00:48:04,161 --> 00:48:07,055
You can be sure that I am sure that it will never succeed.
606
00:48:07,090 --> 00:48:11,338
News from my husband?I know ...I know only that he expected the coup.
607
00:48:11,373 --> 00:48:15,848
What of his welfare? Is he all right? Is he all right?
608
00:48:15,883 --> 00:48:30,616
November 2, 1963:You're tuned to the 8:20 AM spot, the 99.9 FM spot.
609
00:48:30,651 --> 00:48:36,644
This is AFRS Radio in Saigon. The time now is one o'clock.
610
00:48:36,679 --> 00:48:41,229
The American ambassador and the Commander of Military Assistance Command
611
00:48:41,264 --> 00:48:45,043
announce that all Americans are cautioned that a curfew from
612
00:48:45,078 --> 00:48:50,452
twenty hundred hours last night to zero seven hundred hours this morning
613
00:48:50,487 --> 00:48:54,596
is in effect for the Saigon-Cholon-Gia Dinh area.
614
00:48:54,631 --> 00:48:57,826
For their own safety, Americans should stay off the streets,
615
00:48:57,861 --> 00:49:02,802
unless movement is absolutely necessary for conduct of official business.
616
00:49:08,093 --> 00:49:11,204
At three-thirty on the morning of November 2,
617
00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:15,414
the generals' infantry and tanks began their assault on the palace.
618
00:49:24,943 --> 00:49:28,779
When they broke through, Diem and Nhu were gone.
619
00:49:32,029 --> 00:49:37,478
I tell you that if really the Ngo family have been treacherously killed,
620
00:49:37,513 --> 00:49:44,130
in that effect it will be only the beginning. The beginning of the story.
621
00:49:47,434 --> 00:49:52,590
As the soldiers sacked the palace, the generals searched for Diem and Nhu.
622
00:49:52,625 --> 00:49:56,515
Finally, they made contact and General Minh
623
00:49:56,550 --> 00:49:59,880
-- called "Big" Minh -- dispatched a convoy to get them.
624
00:49:59,915 --> 00:50:05,718
One of the group who'd gone to get the two brothers,
625
00:50:05,753 --> 00:50:11,665
a general named Mai Huu Xuan, came to the door of the office,
626
00:50:11,700 --> 00:50:16,846
saluted and said to Big Minh: "Mission accomplished."
627
00:50:16,881 --> 00:50:20,045
Within minutes after he was killed I got the word.
628
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:27,940
He and his brother left the palace -- the Gia Long Palace --
629
00:50:27,975 --> 00:50:30,967
and went in this underground passageway
630
00:50:31,002 --> 00:50:39,502
to this Chinese merchant's house in Cholon,the Chinese section of Saigon.
631
00:50:39,537 --> 00:50:46,851
And in the morning they went into the Roman Catholic Chinese church,
632
00:50:46,886 --> 00:50:55,101
and when they came out there were armed men and an armored car,
633
00:50:55,136 --> 00:50:58,810
and they were pushed into the armored car and,
634
00:50:58,845 --> 00:51:01,930
I believe, shot inside the armored car.
635
00:51:11,988 --> 00:51:17,148
In a very real sense, the ultimate responsibility for the coup
636
00:51:17,183 --> 00:51:21,998
lay with President Ngo Dinh Diem, because he did things
637
00:51:22,033 --> 00:51:25,948
that we told him over and over again that if he did them
638
00:51:25,983 --> 00:51:28,409
we would have to publicly disapprove of them,
639
00:51:28,444 --> 00:51:29,916
and that this would encourage a coup.
640
00:51:29,951 --> 00:51:33,810
And he said, "I know." Now he went ahead and did them,
641
00:51:33,845 --> 00:51:37,366
and we had to publicly disapprove of them. There was no choice.
642
00:51:37,401 --> 00:51:44,712
All that is... how do you say... arrogance, comes from arrogance.
643
00:51:44,747 --> 00:51:55,721
The U.S. was convinced it possessed the truth, and was full of contempt.
644
00:51:55,756 --> 00:52:00,388
My own view was that, even at that point,
645
00:52:00,423 --> 00:52:07,247
we would have done much better to stick with the constitutional government,
646
00:52:07,282 --> 00:52:15,770
or at the very least, to have let them know that our policy was changing.
647
00:52:15,805 --> 00:52:23,262
I don't think it was fair, just or honorable to an ally of nine years,
648
00:52:23,297 --> 00:52:27,762
to do this behind his back.
649
00:52:32,547 --> 00:52:37,184
John F. Kennedy's government had been complicit in Diem's overthrow,
650
00:52:37,219 --> 00:52:41,757
and that complicity deepened America's involvement in Southeast Asia.
651
00:52:46,314 --> 00:52:50,438
But Kennedy's death in Dallas only three weeks later
652
00:52:50,473 --> 00:52:53,247
overshadowed the assassinations in Saigon.
653
00:52:53,282 --> 00:52:57,364
It was left for the new president to discover what Kennedy,
654
00:52:57,399 --> 00:53:02,246
and Eisenhower, and Diem had created in South Vietnam.
60902
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