Some U.S. advisers serving with units involved in the coup were driven off by rebel officers who did not want interference.[17] The plotters thought the Americans would disapprove of their actions, as Taylor had recently talked of an "upward trend" in the war against the communists, while President Lyndon Johnson praised the "continued progress" against the Viet Cong.[17] During the early hours of the coup, officials in Washington remained guarded in public, saying they were monitoring the situation and calling for calm, without explicitly supporting either side. Despite this, they did hint at a preference for the status quo: "hope that consultations among the leadership will shortly permit the Government to restore the situation in the city to normal".[28] Behind the scenes, they used the respective American military advisers to lobby unit leaders against participating in the coup.[18]