Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge receives a State Department cable stating that the United States can no longer tolerate Ngo Dinh Nhu’s influence in President Ngo Dinh Diem’s regime. This message was in response to the raids on the Buddhist pagodas; it also directed Lodge to tell the South Vietnamese generals that Washington was prepared to discontinue economic and military aid to Diem. This was no doubt a major factor in convincing the opposition generals to launch the coup that resulted in Diem’s death in the early morning hours of November 2, 1963.
This Day In History: August 24
