Word: diem
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...months "coup" had been the loudest whisper heard in South Viet Nam. Coup is what correspondents and lesser U.S. officials talked in the bar at the Hotel Caravelle. Coup is what Diem and his guards feared in the palace. Coup is what the generals finally plotted in their headquarters...
...Bitter Chorus. They had been slow enough to move. Weeks ago, the word in Saigon was that, before risking an uprising, the military wanted assurances of U.S. support. Officially the U.S. denied all involvements, but it was perfectly plain that the reduction of U.S. aid to Diem and Washington's public disapproval of his repressive measures against the Buddhists set the scene for the coup (see THE NATION). As the news from Saigon unfolded, it was Diem's sister-in-law, Mme. Ngo Dinh Nhu, who provided a bitter chorus from Los Angeles, where she was winding...
...Bottle of Whisky. Diem's disaster struck on All Saints' Day. For the taciturn little President, the day had begun with normal business in the sprawling, cream-colored Gia Long palace; one visitor was Admiral Harry Felt, commander of U.S. forces in the Far East, who had arrived in Saigon for a "routine visit" and planned to leave for Hong Kong later in the morning. With Felt, and Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Diem chatted easily, showing no signs of concern...
...noon, Diem prepared to take his lunch, and so did the rest of Saigon. Shutters fell over store windows and the lovely tree-lined boulevards were suddenly choked with hordes of motor bikes, pedicabs, and buzzing little Renault taxis hauling people home for two hours of escape from the stupefying midday heat...
There had been some inklings of a coup, including rumors that generals had begun moving troops loyal to Diem away from the capital. New York Times Correspondent David Halberstam and another correspondent received a slip of paper the night before with the message: "Please buy me one bottle of whisky at the PX." It was a prearranged signal meaning that a coup might be imminent. While Saigon was still at lunch, thousands of men in combat garb were gathering just outside the city, buckling on equipment, checking their weapons, listening to last-minute instructions for the violent overthrow...