From the National Security Archive;
JFK Was More Inclined toward Regime Change than Earlier Believed

Newly Released JFK Tape and President's Intelligence Checklists Fill in Gaps in Record

South Vietnamese Leader's Notes Published for First Time, Written Hours before Assassination


Washington, DC, November 1, 2020—President John F. Kennedy was more disposed to support the removal of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in late 1963 than previously appeared to be the case, according to a recently released White House tape and transcript. The ouster of Diem in a military coup that would have major implications for American policy and growing involvement in the country happened 57 years ago today. Even now the views of Kennedy and some of his top aides about the advisability of a coup specifically have been shrouded by an incomplete documentary record that has led scholars to focus more on the attitudes of subordinates. Today, the National Security Archive is posting for the first time materials from U.S. and Vietnamese archives that open the window into this pivotal event a little bit wider.




New Light in a Dark Corner: Evidence on the Diem Coup in South Vietnam, November 1963 | National Security Archive