After an assassination attempt, Ngo Dinh Diem saw proof that he was God’s agent. In some ways he did try to do well for his people, but in others he and his family were ruthless against the majority Buddhist population as not- so-open-tools of the old Catholic hierarchy. In a soon to be published book Kennedy’s Coup: A White House Plot, a Saigon Murder, and America’s Descent into Vietnam, journalist and author Jack Cheevers reveals the deep splits on both the Catholic and Buddhist sides, uncovers Diem’s “Strategic Hamlet” horrors which unintentionally benefited the communist insurgents. Eisenhower and the terribly flawed Domino Theory and LBJ’s missed opportunities. Can we ever learn from history?