Thompson was a veteran of the Malayan counter-insurgency effort and a counter-insurgency advisor to the Diem government.

Given the solvency of the Diem government shown by its victory over the sects, Diem won public support in the 1955 referendum.

While the Diem government is in official control of the South, certain pro-French elements may be planning to overthrow it.

In late October, intelligence wires again reported that a coup against the Diem government was afoot.

Between 1954 and 1957 there was large scale random dissidence in the countryside which the Diem government managed to successfully quell.

As the NLF launched its campaign, the Diem government rapidly lost control of the countryside.

Even worse, from Washington's point of view, the Diem government had entered into secret conversations with the Communists.

The Diem government was quickly removed and replaced, but in the process Diem and his brother were brutally murdered.

He and thousands of other Buddhists endured torture and persecution while imprisoned by the Diem government.

Murrow knew the Diem government did no such thing.