Saturday, August 24, 1963

August 24, 1963

JFK continued his attention on the unstable political situation in Vietnam. There was a growing consensus in the White House that Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem was being uncooperative (he refused to discuss lifting a temporary martial law order in response to protests by Buddhist monks). Furthermore, it was thought that he was close to being toppled and probably not worth the effort and cost of keeping him in power. Kennedy approved a telegram that was to be sent to American officials in Saigon,

“If in spite of all your efforts, Diem remains obdurate, then we must face the possibility that Diem himself cannot be preserved.”

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