legitimate attempt

There was never an executive order or memo ordering or even suggesting a coup go forward. The American position was couched in terms of "not stopping a legitimate attempt" to change the government of South Vietnam. --The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War

а тут все наоборот: The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

Among those dazzled by the Administration team was Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. After attending his first Cabinet meeting he went back to his mentor Sam Rayburn and told him with great enthusiasm how extraordinary they were, each brighter than the next, and that the smartest of them all was that fellow with the Stacomb on his hair from the Ford Motor Company, McNamara. “Well, Lyndon,” Mister Sam answered, “you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” It is my favorite story in the book, for it underlines the weakness of the Kennedy team, the difference between intelligence and wisdom, between the abstract quickness and verbal fluency which the team exuded, and the true wisdom, which is the product of hard-won, often bitter experience. Wisdom for a few of them came after Vietnam.

убедительно пишет Halberstam. ох не любил он восточную элиту. что протестантскую, что католическую. да и западную тоже. но в Кеннеди он положительно влюблен.

"The Best and the Brightest" is ostensibly about how shining intellectuals -- primarily McGeorge Bundy, Robert , and Dean Rusk -- of the Kennedy White House trapped America in Vietnam. ... In fact, I came away from the book with the keen sense that these "intellectuals" were just arrogant and shallow, self-serving and power-hungry individuals.

this is from amazon review A Major Disappointment

в 9-й главе он интересно рассказывает про Walt Rostow. вспоминается афоризм про Россию, где за год меняется все, а за 100 лет - ничего. к США это тоже относится.