 An early supporter of Ngo Dinh Diem, Mansfield altered his opinion on the Vietnam War after a visit to Vietnam in 1962.He reported to John F. Kennedy on December 2, 1962, that US money given to Diem's government was being squandered and that the U.S. should avoid further involvement in Vietnam.He was thus the first American official to comment even mildly negatively on the war's condition.