PERSONS/ENTITIES: HARRIMAN, Averell KENNEDY, John F. HILSMAN, Roger TAYLOR, Maxwell McCONE, John (Mil. ass't to Press.) McNAMARA, Robert RUSK, Dean GILPATRIC, Roswell

DATES: 24-25 August 1963

CATEGORIES: DIEM TOP SECRET

OCCURRENCE: The I.G. REPORT of 1967 (CIA) contains the following description of the events of August 25, 1963, from a book by MARGUERITE HIGGINS: "The crucial act, with its overtones of Greek tragedy, opened with a cable. It was dispatched to Saigon late in the evening of August 24, 1963, a date made more significant because it was a Saturday. Washington usually empties on summer weekends or lapses into a somnolent mood as officials desperately seek relaxation."

"The telegram contained spectacular new instructions for the U.S. EMBASSY in SAIGON. It was drawn up at a meeting called by Under-secretary of State AVERELL HARRIMAN and ROGER HILSMAN, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs and head of the Vietnam task force. The President's senior advisers were, for the most part, out of town. CIA DIRECTOR JOHN McCONE was in California. DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT McNAMARA was on vacation. (cont')

SOURCE: I.G. REPORT 1967, pp. 5-6

STAFF: Dawson

DATE: 28.6.75

FILE: PHC C

PERSONS/ENTITIES: (cont) HELMS, Richard DIEM NHU

DATES: CATEGORIES: DIEM TOP SECRET

OCCURRENCE: SECRETARY OF STATE DEAN RUSK was attending a baseball game in New York. PRESIDENT KENNEDY was at Hyannis Port. GENERAL TAYLOR says he knew nothing of the meeting until it was over and the telegram long on its way.

"... the cable proved historic. For the first time it gave the signal to 'unleash' the Vietnamese military, flashed a green light for the coup against DIEM of which the generals had been talking for so many years.

"... the cable of August 24 was a radical revision of the previous philosophy of one war at a time. It envisaged the generals' making war on their own government, and with the implicit blessing of the United States.

"The substance of the cable was that the U.S. EMBASSY was to make an effort (cont'.)