Finding the Dragon Lady (38 page)

4
. The “I will have his head cut off” quote is from Nhu's interview with the Italian weekly
Espresso
; see “Telegram from the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State from Lodge Saigon, October 7, 1963, 7 p.m.,” Document 186,
FRUS, 1961–1963
, 4:385–386.

5
. For the description of the Chuongs' house and furnishings, see Nan Robertson, “Ex-Saigon Envoy,”
New York Times
, September 22, 1963.

6
. For the Kennedy aide's conversation with Madame Chuong about running Madame Nhu over with a car, see “Memorandum of Conversation Between the Director of the Vietnam Working Group and Madame Tran Van Chuong,” September 16, 1963,
FRUS, 1961–1963,
4:237–238.

Chapter 15: Coup d'État

1
. For Madame Nhu in Dallas on US Day, see Peter Dale Scott,
Deep Politics and the Death of JFK
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 214. For Madame Nhu figuring in conspiracy theories, see Bradley S. O'Leary and L. E. Seymour,
Triangle of Death: The Shocking Truth about the Role of South Vietnam and the French Mafia in the Assassination of JFK
(Washington, DC: WND Books, 2003), and radio show host Michael Cohen on Madame Nhu's instigating the assassination of JFK in his “JFK Assassination Special X,” Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, November 21, 2012,
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2012/11/21
.

2
. For skeet shooting on the Dougherty ranch and details on Bruce Baxter as Le Thuy's boyfriend, see
Life,
November 8, 1963, and the
Victoria Advocate
(Beeville, Texas), October 28, 1963. For the quote from California governor Pat Brown, see
Time,
November 1, 1963.

3
. The momentous decision to get rid of Diem and Nhu, with all the implications this would have for the war, was reached in the space of a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. The president received a draft of a cable implying US support for a coup while he was with his wife and two children in Hyannis Port, still mourning the death of their infant son Patrick only two weeks before. Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs Roger A. Hilsman and Deputy Secretary of State W. Averell Harriman wrote the cable. Secretary of State Robert McNamara was unreachable, and President Kennedy asked, “Can't we wait until Monday, when everyone is back?” But when told that his aides really wanted to get the cable out of the way, JFK finished by telling them, “Go see
what you can do to get it cleared.” Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball (who was on the golf course at the time), and Special Assistant for Counter Insurgency Activities on the Joint Chiefs of Staff Victor “Brute” Krulak, all gave their okay once they heard the president was on board, as did Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatric, who summed up the inertia that led him to sign by saying, “I felt I should not hold it up, so I went along with it just like you countersign a voucher” (Jones,
Death of a Generation,
315–316). See John F. Kennedy Library, Kennedy Papers, National Security File: Meetings and Memoranda Series, Box 316, Folder “Meetings on Vietnam 8/24/63–8/31/63.”

4
. For Nhu eavesdropping in the American embassy in Saigon, see Karnow,
Vietnam,
311–312.

5
. Lodge's imperious manner is detailed in Seth Jacobs,
Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963
(Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), 158.

6
. For details about the end of John Richardson's CIA career in Vietnam, see his
New York Times
obituary, June 14, 1998; Blair,
Lodge in Vietnam
; and Richardson,
My Father,
193.

7
. Harold P. Ford, “CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers, Episode 2, 1963–1965,” Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA Books and Monographs, 2007.

8
. Ford, “CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers.”

9
. For details on Nhu's talks with the north, see the memo of the conversation between Eisenhower and John McCone, dated September 19, 1963, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Special Name Series, Box 12. Also see Margaret K. Gnoinska, “Poland and Vietnam, 1963: New Evidence on the Secret Communist Diplomacy and the Maneli Affair” (Working Paper 45, Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Washington, DC, 2005).

10
. For details on the meeting with Lodge and Felt, see Joseph Buttinger,
A Dragon Embattled
(Westport, CT: Praeger Publishing, 1967), 2:1005; and “Revolution in the Afternoon,”
Time,
November 8, 1963.

11
. For Nhu's “It's alright” quote, see Karnow,
Vietnam,
44.

12
. For the false coup plans, see Neil Sheehan,
A Bright and Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
(New York: Vintage Books, 1989), 367–369; and Karnow,
Vietnam,
316–320.

13
. For a description of Dinh's betrayal, see Buttinger,
A Dragon Embattled,
2:1003–1004.

14
. For Diem and Nhu last being seen by Ma Tuyen, see Fox Butterfield, “Man Who Sheltered Diem Recounts ‘63 Episode,”
New York Times,
November 4, 1971, 5.

15
. Higgins,
Our Vietnam Nightmare,
225.

16
. “The Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, May–November, 1963,” in
The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decision Making on Vietnam,
ed. Mike Gravel (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), 2:201–276.

17
. Khanh played a role in the military intrigue that led to the 1963 coup, but he was not selected to be on the twelve-man Military Revolutionary Council headed by Big Minh. In January 1964, Khanh led the overthrow of Big Minh “without a shot being fired” and became the next leader of South Vietnam—but his rule lasted only one year. In February 1965, he was overthrown by four junior officers.

18
. Fred Flott,
The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
(Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, July 22, 1984).

19
. On Colby's assessment of Diem's coup being the “worst mistake” America made, see “Transcript, William E. Colby Oral History Interview II, 3/1/82,” by Ted Gittinger, Internet Copy, LBJ Presidential Library, 32–33.

20
. On Kennedy's reaction to the deaths of Diem and Nhu, see Jones,
Death of a Generation,
425–436.

21
. Kennedy's “That goddamn bitch” reaction is paraphrased by his personal friend Red Fay; see John F. Kennedy Library, Paul B. Fay Jr., Oral History Interview—JFK #3, November 11, 1970.

22
. John F. Kennedy, Telephone Recordings: Dictation Belt 52.1. Dictated Memoir Entry, November 4, 1963, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President's Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library.

Chapter 16: In Exile

1
. “Letter from Professor Wesley R. Fishel of MSU to the President of the Rep. of Vietnam (Diem),”
FRUS, 1958–1960,
1:426–433. See also Chuong's character in Hammer,
A Death in November,
303.

2
. “Interview with Everett Bumgardener [2], 1982,” August 24, 1982, WGBH Media Library & Archives.

3
. Buttinger,
A Dragon Embattled,
2:956–957.

Index

Adams, Sherman,
131

American embassy in Saigon,
140
,
199
,
201
,
208

Armée Nationale Vietnamenne,
83

Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN),
165

ARVN.
See
Army of the Republic of Vietnam

Asians

    
as feminized peoples,
149

    
stereotype of,
2
,
148–149

Association for the Restoration of Great Vietnam.
See
Dai Viet Phu Hung Hoi

Aymé, Georges,
35

Bao Dai,
61
,
65–66
,
74
,
95
,
113

    
and French, collaboration with,
76

    
and Ngo Dinh Diem,
81
,
88
,
90

    
and Nguyen Van Hinh,
83
,
87

Baxter, Bruce B., III,
197–198

Bay Vien,
89

Bay (Viet Minh leader),
56–57

The Best and the Brightest (Halberstam),
136

Betrothals,
37
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition

Big Minh.
See
Duong Van Minh

Bigart, Homer,
132
,
145

Bin Laden, Osama,
221

Binh Xuyen police,
83
,
86–87
,
89–90
,
92

Births, male vs. female,
18–19
.
See also
Confucianism/Confucian tradition
;
Vietnamese tradition

Blackened teeth,
20–21
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition

Bodard, Lucien,
62
,
77–78

Bride price,
39
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition

Brown, Pat,
197–198

Browne, Malcolm,
2
,
139–140
,
141
,
160–161
,
168

Buddhists,
157–160
,
162
,
216–217

    
and monk, self-immolation of,
139–140
,
160–161

    
and “monks' barbecue” remark,
1
,
140
,
145
,
162–163

    
and pagodas, raids on,
164–166
,
166–167

Bumgardner, Everett,
216

Burrows, Larry,
5
,
66–67

Buttinger, Joseph,
216

Can Lao.
See
Personalist Labor Party

Capra, Robert,
144

Catholics/Catholicism,
36
,
80
,
96
,
154–156
,
157–158

Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party,
33

Chase, Allen,
215

Chau (cook in South Vietnam's Washington, D.C. embassy),
189–190

Chiang, Madame (aka Soong May-Ling),
2
,
147
,
148
,
185–186

Chiang Kai-shek,
2
,
147
,
185
,
186

Children, behavior of,
13
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition

China,
73–74
,
94

CIA,
79
,
81–82
,
136–137
,
199
,
200
,
201
,
210

Cleveland, Harlan,
172

Clothing style,
20
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition

Colby, William,
210

Collins, J. Lawton,
85
,
176

Communism,
47
,
49
,
75
,
76–77
,
80
,
132
,
162
,
218

Communists,
95
,
120–121
,
129–130
,
156
,
159

    
and Buddhists,
162
,
216–217

    
and Viet Minh,
94

    
and women's rights,
101–103

Concubinage,
102

Conein, Lucien,
203

Confucianism/Confucian tradition,
11
,
18–19
,
24
,
157
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition

Contraception ban,
127

Coup attempt of 1960,
111–114
.
See also
Saigon coup of 1963

Creation story,
54
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition

Cronkite, Walter,
199

Dai Viet Phu Hung Hoi (Association for the Restoration of Great Vietnam),
75

Dalat,
61–62
,
63–68

Dancing ban,
127–128

Daughter-in-law as prized possession,
19
.
See also
Vietnamese tradition