New Light in a Dark Corner: Evidence on the Diem Coup in South Vietnam, November 1963

[Douglas Caddy]

New Light in a Dark Corner: Evidence on the Diem Coup in South Vietnam, November 1963

JFK Was More Inclined toward Regime Change than Earlier Believed Newly Released JFK Tape and President's Intelligence Checklists Fill in Gaps in Record South Vietnamese Leader's Notes Published for First Time, Written Hours Before Assassination

 

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/vietnam/2020-11-01/new-light-dark-corner-evidence-diem-coup-november-1963?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=d028c305-87ec-4e63-b938-6e40ae0d7697

[Craig Carvalho]

By coincidence I recently happened upon a voice recording made in the oval office by JFK on this very subject, (specifically his reaction to the news of the Diem assassination(s)). This is great stuff. Thanks Doug!

[Paul Jolliffe]

Fascinating as it is to look at these documents, I still want to know more about the last-minute talks in which Diem was (allegedly) willing to engage with Ho Chi MInh. James Galbraith asked two decades ago  "Was Nhu in discussions with intermediaries for Ho Chi Minh, with the possibility that there might have been a deal between North and South to boot the Americans from Vietnam? It appears that he was. And had he succeeded, it would have saved infinite trouble."

https://bostonreview.net/archives/BR28.5/galbraith.html

We need to discover exactly who knew about this approach, both in Vietnam and in Washington. 

Any late deals between the Diem regime and Ho would certainly have included the end of any significant American involvement - in other words, no possibility of the Vietnam War.

Was the coup of November 1, 1963 facilitated in part by (American) officials determined to bring about such a war?