Vietnam history

-President Diem and his brother Nhu were oppressing Buddhists (70% of Vietnam was Buddhist)
-Huge protests erupted against them, in 1963 Buddhist monks began lighting themselves on fire in protest (first one in Saigon).
-Kennedy changed out ambassadors, nominating Henry Cabot Lodge.
-On the day in between when the old ambassador headed out and before Lodge arrived, Diem cut the phone lines for the American embassy and launched a massive crackdown on Buddhist community.
-Vietnamese generals reached out to Lodge to see if he would be amenable to a coup. Without the appropriate level of debate Kennedy approved U.S. support for coup (even though McNamara, CIA director, and others didn't support it).
-Coup was launched in first week of November 1963, and Diem and his brother Nhu were killed in the coup.
-Kennedy died a few weeks later.
-More coups occurred over the next several months, with new general taking charge.
-Through summer of 1965 there were 8 different governments.
-Johnson later replaced Cabot Lodge with GEN Maxwell Taylor as his ambassador.


in 1965 Johnson writes that our interests are:
-70% to avoid humiliation
-20% to contain China
-10% to help the Vietnamese


Battle of Ia Drang - 1965