10. The Pentagon Papers revealed US involvement in deposing Diem
Diem’s commitment to fighting the Viet Cong was frail, and the ARVN was officered at its highest levels through the practices of nepotism and cronyism. The offices of the government reflected a similar attitude. US advisors in Vietnam reported numerous failings in the attempts to bolster South Vietnam against the communist insurgency. This was at a time when the American public was being told that the United States was supporting Vietnam in its fight against communism. The Pentagon Papers reported that the reverse was true, in that the United States attempted to recruit and train an ally in its own fight against communist China.
In 1963 Diem was overthrown and assassinated in a coup. According to the Pentagon Papers the United States, “authorized, sanctioned, and encouraged the coup efforts of the Vietnamese generals and offered full support for a successor government”. The document continued, “our complicity in his overthrow heightened our responsibilities and our commitment in an essentially leaderless Vietnam”. The Kennedy Administration denied American involvement in the coup publicly, but privately Kennedy was furious with the CIA.