Office of the Historian

219. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State1

Saigon, November 7, 1961–1 a.m.

608. Reference: Deptels 545 and 550.2 I think Diem can be induced to modify his govt, but not to extent set forth pares 1 and 2 reftels, which would in his view amount to divesting himself of key instruments of power.

I believe Diem can be persuaded to create and use a National Emergency Council (or some similar executive organ), but probably only if chaired by his brother Nhu. Vice President Tho would in all probability be a member of this council and Thuan would probably be its Secretary. I do not think Diem could be persuaded to place a US member on the Council “to participate in all decisions”. This [Page 547] step would, I think, be interpreted by him and by most Vietnamese as handing over Govt of SVN to US.

On military side, I do not believe Diem can be persuaded to delegate complete authority to anyone, but I do think he can be induced to take a less direct part in military operational matters. Re intelligence unification, I think this can be achieved, and we are on way towards it as reported Embtel 558.3

Re para 2 A, B, C, D and Deptel 550, believe we can make progress in these areas if President Diem accepts the type National Emergency Council indicated above.

In my judgment, our best bet is to continue to press for improvements in GVN governmental efficiency and popular appeal by backing Pres Diem, using the confidence we have gained to persuade him in the directions we want, utilizing his own Vietnamese advisors to this end, but never giving him grounds to believe that we are trying to undercut his constitutional position or to reduce his overall prestige and authority.

My views as to broad limits of what we can and cannot accomplish on that basis are set out in my telegram to Secretary of Nov 6 (Embtel 5984).

Nolting
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/11-761. Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution; Eyes Only. Repeated to CINCPAC for PolAd. Received in the Department of State at 3:30 p.m.↩
  2. Telegram 545 is printed as Document 212. In telegram 550 to Saigon, November 6, the Department asked the Embassy to comment, with regard to paragraph 2 D of telegram 545, on the possibility of the introduction of “new local faces” into the Government of Vietnam. (Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/11-661)↩
  3. Document 199.↩
  4. Document 216.↩