Cable 243

DEPTEL 243, also known as Department Telegram or Telegram 243 or Cable 243 or more commonly as the August 24 cable, was a high profile message sent on August 24, 1963 by the US Department of State to Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the US ambassador to South Vietnam. The cable came in the wake of the midnight raids of August 21 by the Catholic regime of Ngo Dinh Diem against Buddhist pagodas across the country in which hundreds were believed to have been killed. The raids were orchestrated by Diem’s brother Ngo Dinh Nhu and precipitated a change in US policy. The cable declared that Washington would no longer tolerate Nhu remaining in a position of power and ordering Lodge to pressure Diem to remove his brother. In the case that Diem refused, the Americans would explore alternative leaders for South Vietnam. In effect, the cable authorized Lodge to give the green light to ARVN officers to launch a coup to replace Diem if he did not willingly remove Nhu from power.