1963 South Vietnamese coup



"Ngo Dinh Diem was deposed for the first time by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam soldiers who disagreed with his handling of both the Buddhist crisis and the Viet Cong threat to his regime many years ago, November 1963. The Kenendy administration has been aware of this coup, but Cable 243 did such a horrible thing when Lucien Conein did that liaison thing. Looks like Dương Văn Minh told me that we can arrest and kill Ngo Dinh Diem and his brotherly advisor so we can bring back South Vietnam once more for the Grand Alliance from the shadows of each ducanger."

--Su Ji-Hoon, Highway to Saigon

In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of both the Buddhist crisis and the Viet Cong threat to the regime.

The Kennedy administration had been aware of the coup planning,but Cable 243 from the United States Department of State to U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., stated that it was U.S. policy not to try to stop it. Lucien Conein, the Central Intelligence Agency's liaison between the U.S. Embassy and the coup planners, told them that the U.S. would not intervene to stop it. Conein also provided funds to the coup leaders.

The coup was led by General Dương Văn Minh and started on 1 November. It proceeded smoothly as many loyalist leaders were captured after being caught off-guard and casualties were light. Diệm was captured and executed the next day along with his brother and adviser Ngô Đình Nhu.