spartans_in_darkness

1. 4. (c)
1. 4. (d)
EO
1.4. (c)
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(V) Downtown Saigon, 1963
EO 1.4. (c)
(S//SI)
(U) However, no sooner had one plan fizzled
out than another arose to take its lace. On the
same day
Conein met with General
Don, who told the American that the much-
I__----:~28 October,
delayed coup was scheduled to go forward sometime
after 30 October. He added that it would be
commanded from the South Vietnamese Joint
General Staff Headquarters building at Tan Son
Nhut Air Base. Ambassador Lodge cabled
Washington on the 29th with the news of an
imminent coup. However, Kennedy was having
second thoughts about deposing Diem. He was
fearful about the coup's chances for success and
whether enough forces were available to overcome
troops loyal to the incumbent Saigon
regime. Another source of the president's doubt
was the opposition from General Harkins, who
opposed dumping Diem after all these years.
Harkins feared that the coup would drag the U.S.
further into the conflict"
(U) Despite Washington's wishes, the initiative
was with Saigon. On November 1 at about
1330 (Saigon time), the coup began. At the .JGS
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