In a coup on December 19, 1964, South Vietnam's ruling military junta led by General Nguyễn Khánh (pictured) dissolved the High National Council (HNC) and arrested some of its members. Khánh needed to satisfy the wishes of some younger generals to stay in power, after they had saved him from an earlier coup attempt. They wanted to sideline older officers who had previously been in high leadership positions, hiding their motives with a plan to force all general officers with more than 25 years of service to retire. The HNC, an unelected advisory body created to give a veneer of civilian rule, recommended against this, and was then dissolved. This dismayed the United States, South Vietnam's main sponsor. The US ambassador, Maxwell D. Taylor, harshly berated the generals and threatened aid cuts. Khánh embarked on a media offensive, criticizing US policy and what he saw as infringement of Vietnamese sovereignty. He and the other generals began preparations to expel Taylor before changing their minds. Khánh's tactics rallied support for his fragile leadership, at least temporarily. The Americans did not carry through on Taylor's threats to cut off aid, even though the HNC was never restored.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1964_South_Vietnamese_coup

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1154:

Henry II was crowned King of England in London's Westminster Abbey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England

1843:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (pictured), a novella about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by three Christmas ghosts, was first published. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol

1956:

Irish-born British physician John Bodkin Adams was arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 of his patients, although he was only convicted on minor charges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bodkin_Adams

1981:

Sixteen lives were lost when a Penlee lifeboat went to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas off the south-west coast of England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penlee_lifeboat_disaster

1986:

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev released dissident Andrei Sakharov after six years of internal exile in Gorky. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Sakharov

1998:

The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton following the Lewinsky scandal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

doomsayer: One who makes dire predictions about the future; one fond of predicting disaster. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doomsayer

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.   --A Christmas Carol https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol