A banner strung across the street welcomes Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara to the Thu-Xa (Open Arms) Center, where Viet Cong deserters are rehabilitated. McNamara and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Maxwell Taylor spent several days touring the country and talking with Vietnamese and American officials. Just over a month later, one of the officials who met with McNamara and Taylor — President Ngo Dinh Diem — was ousted and killed in a military coup.