Kennedy's Coup - by Jack Cheevers (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR KENNEDY'S COUP:

"Jack Cheevers has done the seemingly impossible: By mining newly declassified documents, memoirs (including unpublished works), and interviews with participants, he has uncovered new information about this epochal event. In the process he has crafted a crackling historical narrative about one of the pivotal events of the 20th century."
-Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend and The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam

"The importance of what Jack Cheevers does in this book cannot be overestimated. He presents the first inside account of President John F. Kennedy's role in the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, considered America's "Miracle Man" by Life magazine only a few years earlier. Cheevers explains in detail for the first time one of the most important and secret chapters in America's war in Vietnam and Kennedy's involvement in it."
-Christopher Goscha, Professor of International Relations, Université du Québec à Montréal, author of The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam and Vietnam: A New History

"Jack Cheevers's Kennedy's Coup combines impeccable research and elegant writing. Cheevers sheds fresh light on an important turning point in America's war in Vietnam through a tale well-told that combines fascinating characters, intrigue, and the fates of nations."
-H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam

About the Author

Jack Cheevers is the author of Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo, winner of the 2014 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature. He worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for twenty-seven years, including stints at the Los Angeles Times, The Oakland Tribune, and the Associated Press and United Press International bureaus in San Francisco. A Massachusetts native, he is a proud graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. He lives on a pond in New Hampshire.