Page 189 - Stand Down Vietnam
P. 189
John F. Kennedy
35th president of the United States
1961 - 1963
“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.”
President John F. Kennedy
September 2, 1963 and September 9, 1963
Kennedy tripled American economic and military aid to
the South Vietnamese and increased the number of U.S.
military advisors.
He refused to withdraw from the conflict in Vietnam
because, he said, "to withdraw from that effort would
mean a collapse not only of South Vietnam but Southeast
Asia. So, we are going to stay there."
Some historians proclaim that Kennedy supported a
military coup that murdered South Vietnam's president
Ngo Dinh Diem.
