Only three weeks earlier Washington had come to

the conclusion that the U.S.-sponsored regime of Ngo

Dinh Diem could not survive the mounting military

and political pressure of the Vietcong insurgents

without substantially increased military aid and ex-

pertise. Fending off requests from Saigon and from

his own advisers for an American combat task force,

President John Kennedy had agreed to dispatch mili-

tary personnel and equipment for advisory and com-

bat support duties. During the next twelve months

American men and machines would help halt the in-

surgent advance and, at least for a moment, seem to

turn the tide of war for the first time in Saigon s favor.