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1-2 November 1963Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Coup Against Diem

South Vietnam's generals move against their own president, and Washington does nothing to stop them.

On the timeline · around 1-2 November 1963 · The American BuildupThe American BuildupThe American WarThe Coup Against Diem196319641965

Quick facts

Coup begins
1 November 1963
Diem and Nhu killed
2 November 1963
US Ambassador
Henry Cabot Lodge

What happened

By late 1963 Ngo Dinh Diem's government had alienated Buddhists, students, and much of the South Vietnamese military. With the tacit approval of the Kennedy administration, a group of South Vietnamese generals launched a coup on 1 November 1963. As army units moved through Saigon, Diem telephoned US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge at around 4:30 a.m. Washington time, asking what the American position was. Lodge, saying he was not well enough informed to answer, told Diem he admired his courage and warned him that the coup leaders had offered him and his brother safe passage out of the country if he resigned. Diem replied that he was trying to restore order and hung up. He and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu were captured and executed the next day, 2 November 1963. Three weeks later, President Kennedy himself was assassinated in Dallas.

Why it matters

Diem's death did not stabilize South Vietnam, it destabilized it further. A revolving door of short-lived military governments followed, and Washington's acquiescence in the coup deepened American responsibility for whatever came next in Saigon.

How we know

The transcript of the Diem-Lodge phone call survives verbatim in the Pentagon Papers, reproduced from Neil Sheehan's edited collection.

Sources

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