The August Memo While the Diem coup in 1963 did not take place on the 25th as the CIA had warned, American ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge soon became deeply involved in the ongoing intrigue. In a memo to the Department of State, Lodge described a meeting that took place with a top Vietnamese general who intimated that “the U.S. has only to indicate to the generals that it would be happy to see Diem…go, and deed would be done.” Lodge then counseled the State Department to be patient: “Action on our part would seem to be shot in the dark…I believe we should bide our time.” [more]

Relations Between the Khmer Rouge and the American Government The relations between the Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia and that of the United States, while spanning many decades and involving numerous administrations, were primarily motivated by the national interest as either side came to define it. For successive American regimes, Cold War politics and the self-interest it engendered guided the foreign policy imperatives of the time. The American policy shift from one end of the spectrum to the other - tentatively opposing the Khmer Rouge initially while supporting them in later years - [more]