thieu was our boy. >> but massive power corrupts, and thieu becomes a dictator. >> a catholic presencest majority, and now they're going after the buddhists. >> soldiers and police broke up the demonstrations and killed nine persons. >> a debate broke out in the american government over whether we should continue to support thieu or not. >> by the summer of 1963, there had been discussions in the cia the in the pentagon about toppling the regime. >> mr. president, has our government in any way been tardy in recognizing the nature of the thieu government? >> we are faced with a problem of wanting to protect the area against the communists. on the other hand we have to deal with the governments there. that produces a kind of ambivalence in our efforts, which expose us to some criticism. >> mr. president, in the last 48 hours there have been a great many conflicting reports from there about what the cia was up to. can you give us any enlightenment on that? >> no, i don't think so. >> okay. >> this is an nbc special news report. the government of south vietnam has been overthrown by a mili