Photograph of Ngo dinh Diem, W. Averell Harriman, and Fritz Nolting at a conference in South Vietnam. 1961 September 20.

"Fritz" Nolting, Class of 1933, was appointed ambassador to Vietnam in 1961 with orders to support the government of Ngo dinh Diem. He was successful at first, convincing Diem to sign a treaty with Laos and monitoring the development of the strategic hamlets program. An anti-Diem faction in the U.S. government, led by Kennedy advisor W. Averell Harriman, determined to replace Diem who had lost support of the American public after the well-publicized self-immolation of an elderly Buddhist monk. Nolting was recalled and on his flight home drafted a letter to the New York Times castigating the Times for "anti-government and anti-Diem editorials...used since 1961 by Hanoi radio to undercut & undermine heroic efforts by the Vietnamese, U.S., & others to strengthen S[outh] V[iet] N[am] against Viet Cong attack & subversion."

Nolting was succeeded as ambassador by Henry Cabot Lodge who was approached almost immediately by anti-Diem generals planning a coup. Nolting, back in the United States, unsuccessfully tried to persuade President Kennedy from such action. The constitutionally elected Diem was assassinated on November 1, 1963, an action Ho Chi Minh himself reputedly called "stupid," and the military government of General "Big Minh" assumed power.