| International Standard Book Number |
9781668082416 (paperback)
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| International Standard Book Number |
9781668082423 (ebook)
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| International Standard Book Number |
9781668082409 (hardcover)
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| International Standard Book Number |
1668082403 (hardcover)
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| Personal Name |
Cheevers, Jack, author.
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| Title Statement |
Kennedy's coup : a White House plot, a Saigon murder, and America's descent into Vietnam / Jack Cheevers.
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| Edition Statement |
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
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| Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice |
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2026.
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| Physical Description |
x, 673 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
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| General Note |
Maps on endpapers.
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| Bibliography, Etc. Note |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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| Formatted Contents Note |
A massacre in Eden -- Stranger in a strange land -- 'A basket of crabs': Saigon 1954 -- 'Diemocracy' and its discontents -- A fierce tribe of truth seekers -- 'A miserable damn performance': The battle of Ap Bac -- Behold a burning monk -- Kennedy in the quagmire -- 'We're going to get our asses thrown out of Vietnam' -- A sharpening of knives -- City on the brink -- A wild alarm in the hot night -- 'We have to make this work' -- Visions, prophesies, and celestial portents -- 'You both went to the same country?' -- 'Arrogant upstarts' versus the 'specials' -- Kennedy's big squeeze -- 'We're working pretty much in the dark' -- Day of the dead -- The generals take over -- 'Let us continue' -- South Vietnam in free fall -- 'You have to go all out' -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
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| Summary, Etc. |
"A gripping narrative account of the CIA-backed coup in South Vietnam that John F. Kennedy encouraged and which precipitated America's involvement in one of the most controversial and consequential wars in our history"-- Provided by publisher.
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| Summary, Etc. |
Combining the dark intrigue of a Cold War thriller and the propulsive writing of a novel, Kennedy’s Coup is a landmark work that will change your understanding of America’s involvement in one of the most controversial and consequential wars in our history. Based on a decade of research and writing, enriched by eyewitness interviews and revealing documents obtained through dozens of freedom of information requests, Kennedy’s Coup vividly recreates the Kennedy Administration’s secret encouragement of the fatal 1963 military coup against South Vietnam’s defiant president. The brutal assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem by his own generals -- which capped weeks of bitter White House infighting amid JFK’s wavering -- led to dreadful consequences for the United States, opening the door to nine years of costly and futile warfare in Vietnam. A meticulous researcher and fluid writer, Jack Cheevers etches unforgettable portraits of the people behind this fascinating drama: the kindly, philosophy-loving American ambassador who tried to save Diem; the powerful Pentagon and State Department figures who battled for JFK’s ear; the hard-driving young American journalists in Saigon who braved police beatings and death threats to dig out the story; the adder-tongued Madame Nhu, Diem’s beautiful sister-in-law, who enraged critics with outrageous insults; the scheming South Vietnamese generals who slowly tightened a noose around their commander in chief; the hard-drinking CIA agent who carried secret US messages to the generals; and Diem and his Machiavellian brother Nhu, head of the feared secret police, who tried but failed to outwit both the Americans and their traitorous generals. While many Vietnam books mention Diem’s murder in passing, this gripping account delves into the participants’ personalities, motives, and actions in greater detail than ever before. The definitive history of one of the most catastrophic decisions ever made by a US president, shedding new light on events that altered the world, Kennedy’s Coup will be a work of lasting importance.
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| Subject-Personal Name |
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963.
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| Subject-Personal Name |
Ngo, Dinh Diem, 1901-1963 Assassination.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 United States.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
United States Foreign relations Vietnam.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
Vietnam Foreign relations United States.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
Vietnam (Republic) History Coup d'etat, 1963.
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