1963

In an interview with Walter Cronkite, JFK states, “I don’t think that unless a greater effort is made by the Government to win the popular support that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war.  They are the ones who have to win it or lose it” (McMahon, 169).

 Kennedy reaffirms the Domino Theory, “I think that the struggle is close enough.  China is so large,  looms so high just beyond the frontiers, that if South Viet-Nam went, it would not only give an improved geographic position for a guerrilla assault on Malaya but would also give the impression that the wave of the future in Southeast Asia was China and the Communists," (McMahon, 170).

 
Date Event In History
 May Diem’s government “troops fired into crowds gathered in Hue to protest orders forbidding the display of flags on the anniversary of Buddha’s birth” (Herring, 105).  
 June Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc sets himself on fire in the streets of Saigon in his protest against the Diem regime.  Diem regime reacted with raids and arrests of Buddhist protesters.  Diem then appeals for U.S. help. (MultiEducator)
August Kennedy administration committed to a coup against Diem.
November 1, 1963 Diem is assassinated, the government is overthrown.

 

November 22, 1963

 

 John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

President Kennedy's Speech at American University, JUNE 10, 1963 

 

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