1964 South Vietnamese coup
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On January 30, 1964, a successful coup led by General Nguyễn Khánh ousted the military junta led by General Dương Văn Minh from the leadership of South Vietnam. It came less than three months after Minh's junta had themselves come to power in a bloody coup against then President Ngô Đình Diệm. The coup was bloodless and took less than a few hours.
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[edit] Background
Following the partition of Vietnam, Khánh, a French trained officer, had rallied to the support of Ngô Đình Diệm. He rose to become the deputy chief of staff in the Vietnamese army, but his record of loyalty was called into question. In 1960, an attempted coup by rebel paratroopers, Khánh parleyed with the rebels long enough for loyal forces to arrive from the provinces to suppress the uprising, but his critics contended that he was waiting to see which side would gain the upper hand. In his younger days, Khánh had joined the Vietminh but then defected to the French colonial army. He participated in the 1963 South Vietnamese coup that deposed Diệm, playing a minor role. Khánh expected a large reward, but the junta assigned him command of the First Corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, based around Huế in the far north of the Republic of Vietnam. This, it was speculated, was to keep him far away from Saigon.
The junta had failed to assert control over the country following the downfall of Diệm. Khánh, upset by his treatment, began conspiring with General Tran Thien Khiem, who was commander of the Saigon region, another officer who felt that his contribution to the Diệm coup was overlooked. They met covertly in Saigon or in Khánh’s headquarters in Huế beginning in early January, and scheduled the coup for 0400 January 30.
[edit] Coup
According to the plan, Khiem’s forces in Saigon would surround the homes of the sleeping junta members while Khánh and a paratrooper unit would occupy the general staff headquarters near Tân Sơn Nhất airport. On January 28, Khánh flew from Huế to Saigon dressed in civilian clothes on a commercial airliner. He covered for his ruse by travelling with United States military adviser Colonel Jasper Wilson and stated that he had come for a dental appointment. Khánh stayed at the house of a friend and waited for the coup.
As the time approached, he donned his paratrooper uniform and headed to the staff headquarters, where he saw that the compound was empty apart from a few guards. When he telephoned Khiem, he found that his co-conspirator had overslept after having forgotten to set his alarm clock. Despite this, by daybreak, Khánh had taken over the government without a shot being fired, stating in a morning radio broadcast that he had conducted the coup because of the junta’s failure to make progress against the Việt Cộng.
[edit] Aftermath
The United States was caught off guard by the coup. Although Khánh had already told CIA agent Lucien Conein (who helped to plan the coup against Diệm) in December 1963 that he intended to hold a coup, it was filed away among the many political rumour documents that were received by the American representatives. Following the coup, he was promoted by the Americans as South Vietnam’s new hope.
At the time, French President Charles de Gaulle was contemplating recognising the People’s Republic of China and wanted Southeast Asia neutralised as part of his agenda. Khánh used this to enact retribution against Generals Tran Van Don and Le Van Kim, part of the former junta. Khánh had both of them arrested, claiming that they were part of a neutralist plot with the French. Khánh noted that they had served in the French colonial administration, although he did as well. The generals were arrested and flown to My Khe beach, near Đà Nẵng . He also had arrested Generals Tôn Thất Đính and Mai Huu Xuan, the interior minister and police chief respectively. Khánh presided over their trial. The generals were interrogated for five and a half hours, mostly about details of their coup which were already known, rather than the original charge of promoting neutralism. The court deliberated for nine hours, and when it reconvened for the verdict, Khánh stated, "We ask that once you begin to serve again in the army, you do not take revenge on anybody." The tribunal then "congratulated" the generals, but found that they were of "lax morality", unqualified to command and "lack of a clear political concept". Kim was put under house arrest for six years, and Don 18 months. Offices in Da Lat were prepared for them so that they could participate in "research and planning". However, Khánh's actions left divisions among the officers of the ARVN who became dissatisfied with Khánh. When Khánh was himself deposed in 1965, he handed over dossiers proving that Don and Kim were innocent.
Khánh also had Major Nguyễn Văn Nhung, the bodyguard of Minh, shot. Nhung was notable for his execution of Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu in the 1963 coup, as well the Diệm loyalist Special Forces head Colonel Lê Quang Tùng. Nhung had become a symbol of the removal of Diệm, and his execution lead to fears that it would signal the return of Diệm’s policies and loyalists. This resulted in riots in Saigon, notably among Buddhists who feared that anti-Buddhist policies would be reintroduced.
[edit] References
- Karnow, Stanley (1997). Vietnam: A history. Penguin Books, pp. 350–356, 354–355. ISBN 0-670-84218-4.
- Tucker, Spencer C. (2000). Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. ABC-CLIO, p. 299. ISBN 1-57607-040-0.
- Langguth, A. J. (2000). Our Vietnam. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81202-9.
