PERSONS/ENTITIES: TRUEHEART, WILLIAM MECKLIN, JOHN (DIR. USIA) NOLTING, AMBASSADOR

DATE(S): June 1963

CATEGORIES: DIEM

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OCCURRENCE: Mecklin stated that the American position following the incident at Hue was to "urge Diem to repair all Buddhist grievances forthwith, to accept responsibility for the May 8 killings, and to indemnify the victims and apologize, perhaps by visiting Hue himself to do so." (Ambassador Nolting was on a Mediterranean vacation at the time.)

"According to Mecklin, William Trueheart, the Charge d'Affaires, applied on orders from Washington, 'direct, relentless, tablehammering pressure on Diem such as the United States had seldom before attempted with a sovereign friendly government...' In despair Trueheart in June resorted to a formal warning to Diem that if he continued repressive measures (police effort to prevent and disperse illegal demonstrations), the United States would be forced to disassociate itself publicly from such actions as indeed it did two months later. The warning was a momentous step. It amounted to a direct official command from (continued next card)

SOURCE: Our Viet Nam Nightmare, Higgins, Harper and Row, 1965

STAFF: Dawson, R.

DATE: July 2, 1975

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PERSONS/ENTITIES: DIEM

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OCCURRENCE: (continuation)

The United States. Public disassociation could have disastrous results, encouraging the Buddhists, heartening the Viet Cong, strengthening the regime's foreign critics... perhaps even stimulating the Vietnamese Army to try another coup" (100)

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SOURCE: Our Viet Nam Nightmare, Higgins, Harper and Row

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