Following the imposition of martial law in South Vietnam and the arrival of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as the new U.S. ambassador, President Kennedy and senior advisers considered the impact of a coup attempt against South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm. Secretary of State Dean Rusk feared that Diem’s current policies, which most recently included raids on Buddhist pagodas and the declaration of martial law, had put the United States “on the road to disaster.”