What's the Real Story About JFK's Controversial Decision to Assassinate a Revered Catholic?

Christian Newswire ^ | 12/1/15 | Kevin Wandra

[marshmallow]

Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam, possessed the Confucian "Mandate of Heaven," a moral and political authority that was widely recognized by all Vietnamese. What is not commonly known is that Diem was a devout Roman Catholic - in fact, he was a third-order Benedictine and daily communicant. Diem was taken down by a military coup sponsored by the U.S. government and ultimately betrayed by the administration of the first Catholic President, John F. Kennedy, which resulted in Diem's brutal murder on Nov. 2, 1963.

In his new book, THE LOST MANDATE OF HEAVEN: The American Betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam, military historian and counter insurgency expert Dr. Geoffrey DT Shaw disputes the commonly held notion that Diem was a tyrant who had lost the loyalty of his people, and who ultimately the Kennedy administration had to assassinate to further American progress during the Vietnam War. In fact, what he discovered buried in the annals of American History and revealed in the eyewitness accounts of military, intelligence and diplomatic sources is that Diem was a gentle, faithful and beloved leader - a man with rare integrity, a patriot who strove to free his country from Western colonialism while protecting it from Communism.

Admiral John M Poindexter describes THE LOST MANDATE OF HEAVEN as "a remarkable book that finally sets the record straight with copious documentation on the assassination of Diem, which was ultimately responsible for our loss of the war. A must read."

[Tax-chick]

President Diem was a close relative of Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan.

[CondorFlight]

I’m sure that Hanoi rejoiced over the fall of Diem and the end of stability in S. Vietnam.

Reason enough to have continued to back him.

(And the role of the US media in concocting what could only be termed as a ‘propaganda barrage’ against him, cannot be discounted.)

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

Diem may have been a devout Catholic.

JFK was anything but...

[oh8eleven]

What's the Real Story About JFK's Controversial Decision ...
Fifty years later why do I care?

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Fifty years later why do I care?"

Because "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." - William Faulkner

[mfish13]

None of the Kennedy’s deserve to be idolized, but the Lefties worship them.

[Tax-chick]

That’s unfortunately true, for many. Think how much conflict could be avoided if people could let the past depart.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

Agreed.

The Corleone Family was Catholic too.

[marron]

When you put immoral people at the head of your country, there is a price to be paid.

Kennedy ordered the death of Diem, abandoned Eisenhower’s Tibetans to be annihilated, and betrayed Eisenhower’s Cubans. The world is not a better place for it.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Don't let the past depart and disappear entirely, carrying its lesson with it.

Amnesia isn't good for individuals or for societies. That just makes a waste of hard-bought human experience, and of history.

[cloudmountain]

Diem may have been a devout Catholic.
JFK was anything but

It's always easy to judge, especially from the armchair.

I doubt if we EVER got anything honest about him. He was an anathema to the media and they pilloried him (and Jackie) without compunction.
That would be true, I believe, of any of the presidents. They are written about by everyone in the world and I think the "real media truth" would fit into a teaspoon.

Diem was pilloried too BUT here is something different about him. Good for this story. Maybe the "real truth" lies somewhere in between.

[cloudmountain]

1. When you put immoral people at the head of your country, there is a price to be paid.
2. Kennedy ordered the death of Diem, abandoned Eisenhower’s Tibetans to be annihilated, and betrayed Eisenhower’s Cubans. The world is not a better place for it.

==============================

1. When one considers what it really takes to be head of a country, one has to wonder about who WOULD want to lead a country. It has to be someone with a real thirst for power and a narcissism that tells him/her that s/he COULD do it.
I learned, in my 20's, that it's better to serve one's city, state and country in OTHER ways than politics.
*Politics are FILTHY here and we're the BEST country in the world.

2. Yes. Sad but true.

[cloudmountain]

The Corleone Family was Catholic too.

Lol. Thanks for the laugh.
Are some Vito Corleone bon mots coming next?
:o)
i.e. "He's a pimp."

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.

The media loved and adored the Kennedys and the covered up for them.

And they continue to do to this day.

[cloudmountain]

When I read what you wrote about the Kennedys I realized that I hadn't had my second cup of coffee. You are so right about them.
I had a friend who LOATHED, DETESTED, HATED and DEPLORED the Kennedys. She was the ONLY one in my orbit who gainsaid the "Kennedy glow."

You might have BLASTED me but were kind. Thanks for responding so politely.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

Thanks...I was wondering what you were drinking.

I don’t know of anyone who defends “Camelot” here on FR.

With the Kennedys it was more like came a lot.

[Campion]

The Corleone family was fictional.

Then again, after the media got done with them, so were the Kennedys.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

Both are crime families.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember those days. Wasn’t the Nhu family somehow involved? I remember when the Nhus were kicked out of power that an American Newspaper declared ...”NO NHUS IS GOOD NEWS!”
Other names for her was “The Dragon Lady” and Madame Nhu.