Imperial Camelot : John F. Kennedy and the advisory effort for regime change in South Vietnam, 1962-1963 / by Shane M. Marino.

This thesis uses government documents, oral histories, and secondary sources to explore changes in the Kennedy administration’s Vietnam policy to determine the factors that contributed to the decision to support a coup d’état in 1963 that overthrew the President of the Republic of Vietnam and subsequently led to his assassination. The thesis specifically looks to connect administrative changes in organization and personnel to changes in policy that ultimately determined the fate of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime. In general, this thesis reveals that rejection of military intervention led to the adoption of a kind of political aggression that envisioned covert regime change as an acceptable alternative to the use of combat troops. Ultimately, this thesis raises the question of whether political aggression may, in the end, be just as destructive as military aggression.