26 August 1963 -- a very tense day in U.S. relations with
South Vietnam:
The Voice Of America practically
broadcast the contents of the Top Secret
Saturday cable, alerting
anyone who was listening that the
United States was ready to abandon Diem and Nhu, and back the generals talking of overthrowing the government.
-- Richard Reeves, President
Kennedy: Profile of Power
(1993), p. 565
Hearing of this, our Ambassador to Vietnam, Henry Cabot
Lodge, blew his stack.
Lodge’s anger was directed at the
loss of whatever element of surprise there might be in a generals’ coup. Probably he was deluding himself on
that one. Truck drivers at the tea
stalls of Saigon usually knew more
about such things than the
American ambassador.
-- id, p. 566
And in general:
The Pentagon could rip apart any
Vietnam policy with leaks, true and not so true.
-- Richard Reeves, President Kennedy: Profile of Power (1993), p. 603
-- Richard Reeves, President Kennedy: Profile of Power (1993), p. 603
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