Ambassador Lodge and the Secret Purge of John Richardson
A 1963 memorandum kept secret for decades shows an Ambassador using the press to force a coup in South Vietnam while the CIA scrambled to hide its plans from him.
By Desmond Okafor ·
South Vietnam
Quarterly Command Reports and the South Vietnam Dead
Military failure was rebranded as tactical growth in reports kept secret for decades, where the political agency of a dying state was replaced by organization charts.
By Desmond Okafor ·
"Coup Planning Week" and the Death of Ngô Đình Diệm
Forrestal knew what the State Department did not: the White House had already decided the South Vietnamese president had less than a year to live.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Bao Dai Ordered Ngo Dinh Diem to Embrace His Enemies or Face a Coup
A secret cable from 1954 shows a government on the brink, where a single refused order could have turned the South Vietnamese premier into a "rebel" and triggered a military stroke.
By Roy Castellano ·
JFK Weighed Evacuating 4,000 Americans Before Ousting Ngo Dinh Diem
Marked Top Secret, this record captures the moment US officials decided Ngo Dinh Diem was a liability, weighing the evacuation of thousands of civilians against a betrayal of a longtime ally.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Gen. Duong Van Minh Warned US That Diem Was a Puppet of His Brother
South Vietnamese generals plotted to overthrow Ngô Đình Diệm while treating US demands for reform as a joke. This Secret memorandum remained hidden in National Security Files for decades.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu Died Bound in an Armored Car
Bound hands and bullet holes marked the end of the South Vietnamese presidency, a scene transmitted via "Secret; Flash" telegram to Washington in November 1963.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Ambassador Durbrow warned Ngo Dinh Diem about family power in 1960
This Top Secret memo from the Eisenhower White House shows how US officials urged the Vietnamese leader to curb his kin's influence while Communist guerrillas moved into Tay Ninh
By Roy Castellano ·
Ambassador Bunker warned Nguyen Cao Ky against a coup in 1967
South Vietnamese civilians lived under a precarious military junta while US diplomats spent 1967 suppressing threats of a coup kept under "Secret; Exdis" classification.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Diem begged for US Marines to crush 1960 Saigon coup
President Ngô Đình Diệm pleaded for American boots on the ground to hold an airport while his own generals were held captive in the Presidential Palace.
By Desmond Okafor ·
US agencies tracked the November 10 coup attempt against Ngo Dinh Diem
Army attachés and the CIA watched as Saigon burned in 1960, leaving a paper trail across three government archives that stayed hidden for years
By Desmond Okafor ·
Rusk paused South Vietnamese coup plots while Washington weighed the cost
President Ngô Đình Diệm lived on borrowed time while Washington debated whether to trigger his removal, an "Eyes only" directive that kept the plot in suspense for a few more weeks.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Panamanian junta seeks $1,930,000 annuity increase to avoid public unrest
Colonel Torrijos and Colonel Martinez risked 'riding a tiger' by inciting the public over the canal while internal warnings cautioned that the junta remained inexperienced.
By Marcus Boone ·