made the US look imperialist as if we were in control, which was not so yet. The civil rights movement created the climate for protest.As of January 1962, the total military personal in South Vietnam reached a total of 2,646. During this strenuous time for JFK the Cuban Missile Crisis occurs in October, 1962. The Laos negotiation and the Cuban Missile Crisis raised strong doubts about Kennedy’s leadership ability. At the end of 1962 total military personal in South Vietnam reaches heights of 11,300 people.President Kennedy's did a television interviews on Vietnam September 2 and 9, 1963 on CBS. President Kennedy was asked about what he thinks about Vietnam.“I don't think that unless a greater effort is made by the Government to win popular support that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it—the people of Viet-Nam—against the Communists.” JFK's third decision and most far-reaching Vietnam decision was to replace Diem in 1963. The new US ambassador to Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge favored Diem's removal. During this time McNamera tried to convince JFK of necessity of deploying a combat force to S. Vietnam, not only to boost morale but to defend them against Vietcong in the field. But South Vietnamese troops are defeated by a much smaller Vietcong force despite U.S. assistance.In November 1, 1963, Ngo Diem regime came to an end when he died of and unclear cause. It is speculated that he was overthrown and then assassinated by ARVN leaders. US became responsible for the chaos afterward, which led to an increased commitment of US troops.By this time Kennedy was thinking ahead to the presidential campaign of 1964. Unfortunately Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, TX. Despite trauma of the assassination ...
