41. Political Upheaval

The assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem on November 2, 1963, marked a pivotal moment in the Vietnam War. Kennedy was reportedly shocked by the assassination, an event that Defense Secretary Robert McNamara described the President as having never been more upset.

Revelations from the Pentagon Papers later showed the U.S. had clandestine communications with the coup plotters and had tacitly approved their plans. Tragically, Kennedy himself would be assassinated just twenty days later, deepening the crisis and casting a long shadow over U.S. foreign policy.