Ngo Dinh Nhu - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For his wife, see Madame Nhu.

Ngô Ðình Nhu was the younger brother and chief political advisor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Ðình Diệm

Ngo Dinh Diem

Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...

. Nhu was widely regarded as the architect of the Ngô family's nepotistic and autocratic rule over South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. Although Nhu did not hold a formal executive position, he wielded immense unofficial power, exercising personal command of both the ARVN Special Forces

Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces were the elite military units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . Following the establishment of the Republic of Vietnam in October 1955, the Special Forces were formed at Nha Trang in February 1956...

(a paramilitary unit which served as the Ngô family's de facto private army) and the Cần Lao Party

Can Lao Party

The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...

, which served as the regime's de facto secret police

Secret police

Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....

. A long-time opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

addict, Nhu's extensive underground connections with the international opium smuggling market allowed him to channel millions of dollars in drug money into the personal accounts of the Ngô family during their regime. An outspoken admirer of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

(particularly his approach to internal security

Internal security

Internal security, or IS, is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories. generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats...

), Nhu's organizational models incorporated elements of both fascist and communist styles and methodologies.

In his early age, Nhu was a quiet and bookish individual who showed little inclination towards the political path taken by his elder brothers. While training as an archivist in France, Nhu adopted the Roman Catholic ideology of personalism

Personalism

Personalism is a philosophical school of thought searching to describe the uniqueness of a human person in the world of nature, specifically in relation to animals...

, although critics claimed that Nhu had misused their philosophy. Upon returning to Vietnam, he helped his brother in his quest for political power, and Nhu proved to be an astute tactician and strategist, helping Diệm to gain more leverage and outwit rivals. During this time, he formed and handpicked the members of the secret Cần Lao Party, which swore its personal allegiance to the Ngô family, provided their power base and eventually became their secret police force. He remained as the head of it until his death.

In 1955, Nhu’s groups helped to intimidate the public and rig the 1955 State of Vietnam referendum that ensconced Diệm in power. Nhu used the Cần Lao, which he organised into cells, to infiltrate every part of society to root out any opposition to the Ngô family. In 1959, he organized a failed assassination attempt via mail bomb on Prince Sihanouk, the leader of neighbouring Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, with whom relations had become strained. Nhu publicly extolled his intellectual abilities, and was widely regarded as conceited by the public. He was also known for making aggressive public statements; these included a promise to demolish the Xá Lợi Pagoda

Xa Loi Pagoda

The Xá Lợi Pagoda is the largest pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was built in 1956 and was the headquarters of Buddhism in South Vietnam. The pagoda is located at 89 Bà Huyện Thanh Quan Street in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City and lies on a plot of 2500 square metres...

, where Buddhist dissidents were mobilising against him, and a vow to kill his father-in-law, Trần Văn Chuơng

Tran Van Chuong

Trần Văn Chương was South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States in the early 1960s and the father of the country's de facto first lady, Madame Nhu .-Family life:...

, who was the regime's Ambassador to the United States. As opposition to the family grew, coup attempts often formed around hatred of him and his wife, and Diem's supporters in Washington tried to convince the president to do away from his brother, to no avail.

In 1963, the Ngo family's grip on power became unstuck during the Buddhist crisis

Buddhist crisis

The Buddhist crisis was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam from May 1963 to November 1963 characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks....

, during which the nation's Buddhist majority rose up against the pro-Catholic regime. Nhu tried to break the Buddhists by using the Special Forces in raids on Buddhist temples

Xa Loi Pagoda raids

The Xa Loi Pagoda raids were a series of synchronized attacks on various Buddhist pagodas in the major cities of South Vietnam shortly after midnight on August 21, 1963...

that left possibly hundreds dead, and framing the regular army for it. However, he was found out and this intensified plots by military officers, encouraged by the Americans, who turned against the Ngos after the pagoda attacks. Nhu was aware of the plots, but remained confident that he could outmanoevre them, and began to plot a counter-coup, as well as the assassinations of US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See . He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.-Early life:Lodge was born in Nahant,...

and other American and opposition figures. However, Nhu was fooled by the loyalist General Ton That Dinh

Ton That Dinh

Major General Tôn Thất Đính is a retired officer who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known as one of the key figures in the November 1963 coup that deposed and resulted in the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam .A favourite of...

, who had turned against him. On November 1, the coup proceeded, and the Ngos were caught off guard and defeated. The next day, Diem and Nhu were captured and executed

Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

The arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm, then president of South Vietnam, marked the culmination of a successful CIA-backed coup d’état led by General Dương Văn Minh in November 1963...

Early years

Nhu's family originated from the village of Phu Cam in central Vietnam. His family had served as mandarins

Mandarin (bureaucrat)

A mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence.-History and use of the term:...

in the imperial court in Hue, and his father Ngo Dinh Kha was a counselor to Emperor Thanh Thai

Thanh Thai

Emperor Thành Thái of the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty was born Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân, son of Emperor Duc Duc. He reigned for 18 years, from 1889 to 1907.-Biography:...

during the French colonisation. When the French deposed the emperor on the pretext of insanity, Kha retired in protest and became a farmer. Nhu was the fourth of six sons, born in 1910.

In his early years, Nhu was aloof from politics and was regarded as a bookish and quiet personality who preferred academic pursuits. By the 1920s, his three elder brothers Ngo Dinh Khoi

Ngo Dinh Khoi

Ngô Ðình Khôi was a brother of South Vietnam’s first President, Ngô Đình Diệm, and of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục. He served as a governor in the French administration of Việtnam during the French Indochina years. He was buried alive by the Communists for refusal to join the Việt Minh as a minister in...

, Ngo Dinh Thuc and Ngo Dinh Diem

Ngo Dinh Diem

were becoming prominent figures in Vietnam; Thuc was a Roman Catholic cleric, while the other two had become provincial governors of the Nguyen Dynasty. In 1932, Diem became the interior minister but resigned within a few months after realising that he would not be given any real power. Nhu nevertheless showed little interest in following in their footsteps. Despite their differing interests, Nhu and his brothers were devoutly Catholic and Confucianist.

Nhu completed a bachelor's degree in literature in Paris and then studied paleography and librarianship, graduating from the École Nationale des Chartes

École Nationale des Chartes

The École Nationale des Chartes is a grand établissement, an elite French university-level educational institution based in Paris. It provides education and training for archivists and librarians and forms part of the University of Paris.-History:...

, an archivists' school in Paris. He returned to Vietnam from France at the outbreak of World War II. He was influenced by personalism

Personalism

Personalism is a philosophical school of thought searching to describe the uniqueness of a human person in the world of nature, specifically in relation to animals...

, a concept he had acquired in the Latin Quarter

Latin Quarter

Latin Quarter is a part of the 5th arrondissement in Paris.Latin Quarter may also refer to:* Latin Quarter , a British pop/rock band* Latin Quarter , a 1945 British film*Latin Quarter, Aarhus, part of Midtbyen, Aarhus C, Denmark...

. It had been conceived in the 1930s by Catholic progressives such as Emmanuel Mounier

Emmanuel Mounier

Emmanuel Mounier was a French philosopher.Mounier was the guiding spirit in the French Personalist movement, and founder and director of Esprit, the magazine which was the organ of the movement. Mounier, who was the child of peasants, was a brilliant scholar at the Sorbonne...

. Mounier's heirs in Paris, who edited the left wing Catholic review Esprit denounced Nhu as a fraud. Personalism condemned liberal capitalism for the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

and individualistic greed and exploitation, and disagreed with communism because of its opposition to spirituality.

He worked at Hanoi's National Library and in 1943, he married Tran Le Xuan, making her known as "Madame Nhu

Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu

Trần Lệ Xuân , popularly known as Madame Nhu, was considered the first lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu who was the brother and chief adviser to President Ngo Dinh Diem...

". Prior to this, he was strongly rumoured to have been having an affair with his mother-in-law, six years his senior. The French dismissed Nhu from his high-ranking post, due to Diem's nationalist activities, and he moved to the central highlands

Tây Nguyên

Tây Nguyên, translated as Western Highlands and sometimes also called Central Highlands, is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lâm Đồng....

resort town of Da Lat and lived comfortably, editing a newspaper. He also raised orchids during his time in Da Lat.

After the August Revolution

August Revolution

On August 19, 1945, the Việt Minh under Hồ Chí Minh began the August General Uprising Tổng Khởi Nghĩa, which was soon renamed the August Revolution . Whether or not this series of events should be called a "revolution" is disputable; what is clear is that, from August 19 onwards, demonstrations and...

of 1945, when Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh

Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...

's communist Vietminh declared independence, various groups as well as the French colonialists jockeyed for political control. Nhu became more politically active, especially in helping his brothers to establish a political base among Vietnamese Catholics. By this time, Khoi had been assassinated by the communists, so Diem was the leading political figure in the family. Diem had little success in the late 1940s and went into exile in 1950 to campaign from abroad after the communists sentenced him to death in absentia.

Up until that point, Nhu had kept a relatively low-key profile. However, he appeared to imbue personalist ideas into his elder brother, who used the philosophy's terminology in his speeches. Diem and Nhu thought that personalism went well with their "Third Force" anti-communist and anti-colonial ideology. After 1950, Nhu became a leading figure in the mobilizing of his elder brother's support based among anti-communist Vietnamese. He also became for assertive in pushing personalism as a guiding ideology for Vietnam's social development. In April 1952, Nhu gave a talk on the topic at the newly opened Vietnamese National Military Academy in Da Lat. He said that the Catholic concept was applicable to people from all backgrounds, especially in the fight against communist and unadulterated capitalism. He called on all Vietnamese to engage in a personalist-driven social revolution to strengthen the society and country.

Regarding himself as a great intellectual, Nhu was known for making long, abstract and difficult-to-understand speeches, something which many Vietnamese resented. Although Nhu was well known for his pretensions as an intellectual and political philosopher, he was to become much more effective as a political organizer, much to the chagrin of those who impeded his family's political progress.

Around 1950, Nhu started the forerunner of what would become Can Lao Party

Can Lao Party

(Personalist Labor Party) and form the power base and serve as the control mechanism of the Ngo family. Initially an entirely secret organization, little is known of the Can Lao's early years. The body consisted of a network of cells, and most members knew the identities of only a few colleagues. After 1954, its existence was declared, but the public knew little of its activities, which mostly remained hidden from view.

In the early 1950s, the Can Lao was used to mobilize support for Diem's political campaign. Around 1953, Nhu began an alliance with Tran Quoc Buu, a trade unionist who headed the Vietnamese Confederation of Christian Workers. Nhu and his supporters began publishing a Saigon journal called Xa Hoi (Society) which endorsed Buu's movement and unionism in general.

At the time, opportunities for opposition politicians began to open up. Bao Dai

Bao Dai

Bảo Đại , born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy , was the 13th and last ruler of the Nguyễn dynasty. From 1926 to 1945, he was king of Annam under French ‘protection’. During this period, Annam was a protectorate within French Indochina, covering the central two-thirds of the present-day Vietnam...

, head of state of the State of Vietnam

State of Vietnam

The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...

, an associated state of the French Union

French Union

The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...

became increasingly unpopular as the citizens became increasingly impatient with his strategy of allying with the French against the communists in return for gradually increased autonomy and eventual independence. Many felt that the Bao Dai's policy would never deliver meaningful self-determination.

In late-1953, Nhu began to try to exploit increasing anti-Bao Dai sentiment. He organised a Unity Congress, a forum of various anti-communist nationalists such as Nguyen Ton Hoan

Nguyen Ton Hoan

Nguyễn Tôn Hoàn was Vietnamese Catholic physician who was a leader of the Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang from the 1940s to the 1960s, and was active in South Vietnamese politics during that time, serving briefly as Deputy Prime Minister in 1964.- Early career :Hoan was born in Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam,...

's Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang

Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang

Đại Việt Quốc dân đảng , often known simply as Đại Việt, was a nationalist and anti-communist political party and militant organisation that was active in Vietnam in the 20th century. The party was founded by Trương Tử Anh, known as Anh Cả Phương...

(Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam), the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang

Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang

The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng , also known as the Việt Quốc and the Vietnamese Kuomintang, is the Vietnamese Nationalist Party, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought independence from French colonial rule in Vietnam during the early 20th century...

(Vietnamese Nationalist Party), various Catholics, the Hoa Hao

Hoa Hao

Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương...

and Cao Dai

Cao Dai

Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ...

religious sects, as well as the Binh Xuyen

Binh Xuyen

Bình Xuyên, often linked to its infamous leader, General Le van "Bay" Vien, was an independent military force within the Vietnamese National Army whose leaders once had lived outside the law and had sided with the Viet Minh...

organised crime syndicate. Nhu's real objective was to gain publicity for Diem, especially while Bao Dai was overseas and unable to respond effectively. The conference turned into chaos, but Nhu achieved his objective of gaining publicity for his brother; in addition, the other groups had engaged in angry denunciations against Bao Dai and put on pressure on the head of state.

Bao Dai was rattled by the chaos in Saigon and announced that a National Congress would be opened in October. The leaders of most of the other parties agreed to participate, but Nhu and his organizations were absent. He was worried that the body might play into Bao Dai's hands by endorsing him. This appeared to be the way the delegates were heading at first, but a sudden change saw an upsurge of condemnation against Bao Dai's policies of coexistence with France.

Rise to power

Nhu's brother Diệm had been appointed Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam

State of Vietnam

by Emperor Bao Dai

Bao Dai

after the French had been defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu

Battle of Dien Bien Phu

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...

. At the start of 1955, French Indochina

French Indochina

French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....

was dissolved, leaving Diem in temporary control of the south. A referendum was scheduled for October 23, 1955 to determine the future direction of the south. It was contested by Bao Dai

Bao Dai

, the Emperor, advocating the restoration of the monarchy, while Diem ran on a republican platform. The elections were held, with Nhu and the family's Can Lao Party

Can Lao Party

, which supplied Diem's electoral base, organising and supervising the elections. Campaigning for Bao Dai was prohibited, and the result was rigged, with Bao Dai supporters attacked by Nhu's workers. Diem recorded 98.2% of the vote, including 605,025 votes in Saigon, where only 450,000 voters were registered. Diem's tally also exceeded the registration numbers in other districts.

In his youth he had formed student movements. He created a web of covert political, security, labor and other organizations. Emulating the communists, he built a structure of five-man cells to spy on dissidents and promote those loyal to Diem's regime.

Power

Nhu held no official role in the government, but ruled the southern region of South Vietnam, commanding private armies and secret police. Along with his wife and Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc, he lived in the Presidential Palace with Diem, as part of a nepotistic regime. Pervaded by family corruption, Nhu competed with his brother Ngo Dinh Can

Ngo Dinh Can

Ngô Đình Cẩn was a younger brother and confidant of South Vietnam’s first president, Ngo Dinh Diem, and an important member of the Diem government. Diem put Cẩn in charge of central Vietnam, stretching from Phan Thiết in the south to the border at the 17th parallel, with Cẩn ruling the region as...

, who ruled the northern areas for US contracts and rice trade. He controlled the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces

Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces

commanded by Colonel Le Quang Tung

Le Quang Tung

Colonel Lê Quang Tung was the commander of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces under the command of Ngo Dinh Nhu, the brother of South Vietnam's president, Ngo Dinh Diem. A former servant of the Ngô family, Tung's military background was in security and counterespionage...

, not for fighting the Vietcong but in Saigon to maintain the authoritarian rule of his family. Tortures and killings of "communist suspects" were committed on a daily basis. The death toll was put at around 50,000 as well as 75,000 imprisonments, and extended beyond communists to anti-communist dissidents and anti-corruption whistle-blowers. His agents infiltrated labor unions and social organizations, and he expanded the police forces from 20 to 32 officers. They conducted arrests without warrants and selective suppression of criminal activity and graft while turning a blind eye to regime loyalists.

Nhu was an opium

Opium

addict and Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

admirer. He modelled the Can Lao secret police's marching and torture styles on Nazi designs. He and his wife amassed a fortune by running numbers and lottery rackets, manipulating currency and extorting money from Saigon businesses.

In 1956, Diem created a rubber stamp unicameral legislature, the National Assembly. Nhu won a seat in the body, ostensibly as an independent, but never bothered to attend a single session of debate or vote, but this made no difference as Diem’s policies were overwhelmingly approved in any formal show of numbers.

In June 1958, the ARVN were involved in border clashes with Cambodia and made gains in the northeastern Cambodian province of Stung Treng

Stung Treng

Stung Treng is the capital of Stung Treng Province, Cambodia. It is located in the western part of the Virachey National Park.It is the major city of both the district and province and has a population of 29,665 ....

. This provoked a war of words between Diem and Sihanouk. On August 31, 1959, Nhu failed in an attempt to assassinate Sihanouk. He ordered his agents to send parcel bombs to the Cambodian leader. Two suitcases were delivered to the Sihanouk's palace, one addressed to the head of state, and the other to Prince Vakrivan, his head of protocol. The deliveries were labeled as originating from an American engineer who had previously worked in Cambodia and purported to contain gifts from Hong Kong. Sihanouk's package contained a bomb, but the other did not; however, Vakrivan opened both on behalf of the monarch and was killed instantly, as was a servant. The explosion happened adjacent to a room in the palace where Sihanouk's parents were present. At the same time, anti-Sihanouk broadcasts emanated from a secret transmitter located somewhere in South Vietnam, widely attributed to Nhu. Given that the Ngos had tried to organise a coup against him earlier in the year, Sihanouk quickly blamed them for his relative's death. His aides made statements implying that the United States might have been involved in Nhu's assassination attempt.

The relationship between the two countries became indelibly strained thereafter, and Cambodia gave refuge to Vietnamese military personnel involved in attempts to overthrow Diem. Colonel Nguyen Chanh Thi

Nguyen Chanh Thi

Lieutenant General Nguyễn Chánh Thi was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for frequently being involved in coups in the 1960s and wielding substantial influence as a key member of various juntas that ruled South Vietnam from 1964 until 1966, when he was...

and Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Van Dong

Vuong Van Dong

Lieutenant Colonel Vương Văn Đông was an officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who led the failed coup attempt of 1960 against President Ngô Đình Diệm. After the failed coup, he fled to Cambodia with the other coup leaders aboard a commandeered air force C-47. Đông was allowed to quietly...

were given immediate refuge after a failed coup in November 1960

1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt

On November 11, 1960, a failed coup attempt against President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Van Dong and Colonel Nguyen Chanh Thi of the Airborne Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam ....

, and Vietnam Air Force

Vietnam Air Force

The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...

pilot Lieutenant Nguyen Van Cu

Nguyen Van Cu

Nguyễn Văn Cử was a lieutenant in the Vietnam Air Force, best known for being one of two mutinous pilots involved in the 1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bombing on 27 February 1962, which aimed to assassinate South Vietnam's President Ngô Đình Diệm and his immediate family, who were his...

was accorded the same treatment after his aerial bombardment of Independence Palace

1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing

The 1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing in Saigon was an aerial attack on February 27, 1962, by two dissident Vietnam Air Force pilots, Second Lieutenant Nguyễn Văn Cử and First Lieutenant Phạm Phú Quốc...

failed to kill the Ngos.

Strategic Hamlet Program

In 1962, Nhu began work on the ambitious Strategic Hamlet Program

Strategic Hamlet Program

The Strategic Hamlet Program was a plan by the governments of South Vietnam and the United States during the Vietnam War to combat the Communist insurgency by means of population transfer.In 1961, U.S...

, an attempt to build fortified villages that would provide security for rural Vietnamese. The objective was to lock the Vietcong out so that they could not operate among the villagers. Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao

Pham Ngoc Thao

Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...

, a Catholic favourite of the ruling family, supervised these efforts, and when told that the peasants resented being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands and put into forts that they were compelled to build, he advised Nhu and Tuyen that it was imperative to build as many hamlets as fast as possible. The Ngos were unaware that Thao was a communist agent bent on turning the rural populace against Saigon. Thao helped to ruin Nhu's scheme by having strategic hamlets built in communist strongholds. This increased the number of communist sympathisers who were placed inside the hamlets and given identification cards. As a result, the Vietcong were able to more effectively penetrate the villages to access supplies and personnel.

Buddhist crisis

In May 1963, the Buddhist crisis

Buddhist crisis

broke out after nine Buddhist protestors were killed

Hue Vesak shootings

The Huế Phật Đản shootings refer to the deaths of nine unarmed Buddhist civilians on May 8, 1963, in the city of Huế in South Vietnam, at the hands of the army and security forces of the government of Ngô Đình Diệm...

while protesting a ban on the Buddhist flag

Buddhist flag

The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century to symbolise and universally represent Buddhism. It is used by Buddhists throughout the world.-History:...

on Vesak

Vesak

Vesākha is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia...

, the birthday of Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

. This prompted the Buddhist majority to stage widespread demonstrations against Diem, who discriminated in favour of Catholics, for religious equality. The movement threatened the stability of the Ngo family's rule. Nhu was known to favor a stronger line against the Buddhists. He had made statements calling for the suppression of the protests through his English language newspaper, the Times of Vietnam
Times of Vietnam
The Times of Vietnam is a defunct English language newspaper that existed in South Vietnam under the rule of President Ngô Đình Diệm. It was regarded as the official mouthpiece of his regime. It was disbanded following his deposal and assassination in November 1963. The November 1 morning edition...

. During this time, his wife Madame Nhu, who was the de facto first lady due to Diem's bachelor life, inflamed the situation by mockingly applauding the suicides of Thích Quảng Đức and others, referring to them as "barbecues" while Nhu stated "if the Buddhists want to have another barbecue, I will be glad to supply the gasoline".
July 7 was the ninth anniversary of Diem's 1954 ascension to Prime Minister

Leaders of South Vietnam

This is a list of leaders of South Vietnam, since the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in 1946 until the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975.-Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina :-Republic of South Vietnam :...

of the State of Vietnam

State of Vietnam

. American pressmen had been alerted to a Buddhist demonstration to coincide with Double Seven Day at Chanatareansey Pagoda in northern Saigon. When the Buddhists filed out of the pagoda into an adjacent alley, they were blocked by Nhu's secret police. When Peter Arnett

Peter Arnett

Peter Gregg Arnett, ONZM is a New Zealand-American journalist.Arnett worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably CNN. He is well known for his coverage of war, including the Vietnam War and the Gulf War...

and Malcolm Browne

Malcolm Browne

Malcolm Wilde Browne is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and photographer. His best known work is the award-winning photograph of the self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức in 1963.- Early life :...

began taking photos, the police punched Arnett in the nose, floored him, threw rocks and broke his camera. Browne took photos of Arnett's bloodied face, and while the police smashed his camera, the film

Photographic film

Photographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...

survived. Photos of Arnett's bloodied face were circulated in US newspapers and caused further embarrassment for Diem and Nhu. The Saigon press corps officially protest Nhu's men's "open physical intimidation to prevent the covering of news which we feel Americans have a right to know".
There were persistent reports that Nhu was seeking to usurp real power from his elder brother and that he would attack the Buddhists. In a media interview, Nhu said that if the Buddhist crisis was not resolved, he would stage a coup, demolish Xa Loi Pagoda

Xa Loi Pagoda

, where the Buddhists were massing to coordinate their activities, and head a new anti-Buddhist government. The news was promptly published, although the Americans were not sure that Nhu was serious.

On the evening of August 18, a group of senior ARVN generals met to discuss the Buddhist crisis and decided that the imposition of martial law was needed to disperse the monks who had gathered in Saigon and other regional cities and return them to their original pagodas in the rural areas. On August 20 they met Nhu for consultations and made their request. Most of the group were already involved in plotting against the Ngo family at the time. The generals tried to play on Nhu's prejudices by saying that the pagodas were infiltrated with communists and that they needed to be dispersed. Hearing this, the brothers agreed to declare martial law effective on the next day, without consulting the cabinet. The real purpose of the generals' request was to maneuver troops in readiness for a coup, and they had no concrete plans to use the regular army to raid the pagodas. However, Nhu took the opportunity to discredit the army by using Tung's Special Forces and the combat police to attack the pagodas.

With the approval of Diem, Nhu used the declaration of martial law to order armed men into the Buddhist pagodas. Nhu purposely chose a time when the American Embassy was leaderless. Frederick Nolting

Frederick Nolting

Frederick Ernst Nolting , was a World War II naval officer and United States diplomat.-Early life and education:...

had returned to he United States and his successor Lodge was yet to arrive. As the high command of the ARVN worked closely with the American advisers, Nhu used the combat police and Tung's Special Forces, who took his orders directly from Nhu. The men were dressed in regular army uniforms, such as paratrooper uniforms, in order to frame the army for the raids. Nhu's motive was to shift the responsibility for a violent operation that would anger the Vietnamese public and the American officials onto the army. In doing so, he intended to dent the public and American confidence in the senior army officers, who were plotting against him. Nhu hoped that the Buddhist majority and the Americans would blame the army for the raids and become less inclined to support a coup by the generals. In the past, Nhu's Machiavellian tactics in playing the generals against one another had kept conspirators off-balance and thwarted coup attempts.

Squads of Special Forces and combat police flattened the gates of Xa Loi Pagoda

Xa Loi Pagoda

and smashed their way in at around 00:20 August 21. Nhu's men were armed with pistols, submachine guns, carbines, shotguns, grenades and tear gas. The red bereted Special Forces were joined by truckloads of steel-helmeted combat police in army camouflage uniforms. Two of Nhu's senior aides were seen outside Xa Loi directing the operation. Monks and nuns were attacked with rifle butts and bayonets, and overpowered by automatic weapons fire, grenades and battering rams. It took around two hours to complete the raids because many of the occupants had barricaded themselves inside the various rooms.

Nhu's men vandalized the main altar and confiscated the intact charred heart of Thich Quang Duc, the monk who had self-immolated in protest against the policies of the regime. However, some of the Buddhists were able to flee the pagoda with a receptacle with the remainder of his ashes. Two monks jumped the back wall of the pagoda into the grounds of the adjoining United States Agency for International Development

United States Agency for International Development

The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...

(USAID) mission, where they were given asylum. Thich Tinh Khiet, the 80 year old Buddhist patriarch, was seized and taken to a military hospital on the outskirts of Saigon. Military control, press censorship and the airport closures were enacted in Saigon.

The violence was worse in Hue. Pro-Buddhist civilians left their homes upon hearing of the raids to defend the city's pagodas. At Tu Dam Pagoda

Tu Dam Pagoda

Tu Dam Temple is a Buddhist temple in the central city of Huế in Vietnam. Tu Dam Temple is located on a street of the same name, in Trường An ward of Huế.-History:...

, which was the temple of Buddhist protest leader Thich Tri Quang

Thich Tri Quang

Thích Trí Quang is a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk best known for his role in leading South Vietnam’s Buddhist population during the Buddhist crisis in 1963....

, government soldiers, firing M1 rifles, overran the building and demolished a statue of Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha

and looted and vandalized the building, before leveling much of the pagoda with explosives. Many Buddhists were shot or clubbed to death. The most determined resistance occurred outside the Dieu De Pagoda

Dieu De Pagoda

Dieu De Pagoda is a Buddhist temple in the central city of Huế in Vietnam. It is named for the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, which are called Tứ Diệu Đế in Vietnamese. During the period of the Nguyễn Dynasty in the 19th century, Emperor Thiệu Trị declared it to be one of the national pagodas of...

in Hue. As troops attempted to erect a barricade across the bridge leading to the pagoda, the crowd fought back, and the military finally took control after five hours, leaving an estimated 30 dead and 200 wounded.

An estimated 500 people were arrested in the city, and 17 of the 47 professors at Hue University

Hue University

Huế University is a university located in Huế, the former imperial capital of Vietnam; this university is one of the important regional universities of Vietnam...

, who had resigned earlier in the week in protest against the family's policies, were arrested. The raids were repeated in cities and towns across the country. The total number of dead and disappeared was never confirmed, but estimates range up to several hundred. At least 1,400 were arrested. Thanks to Nhu's actions, no further mass Buddhist protests occurred during the remainder of Diem's rule.

Government sources claimed that in Xa Loi, An Quang

An Quang Pagoda

An Quang Pagoda in Master Van Hanh Street is a meeting place for Vietnamese Buddhist leaders in Ho Chi Minh City and is a site of the Institute for Dharma Propagation...

and various Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

pagodas, soldiers had found machine guns, ammunition, plastic explosives, homemade mines, daggers, and Vietcong documents; these had been planted by Nhu's men. A few days later, Madame Nhu said that the raids were "the happiest day in my life since we crushed the Binh Xuyen

Binh Xuyen

in 1955", and assailed the Buddhists as "communists". Nhu accused the Buddhists of turning their pagodas into headquarters for plotting insurrections. He claimed that the Buddhist Intersect Committee operated under the control of "political speculators who exploited religion and terrorism".

Nhu's actions prompted riots from university students, which were met by arrests, imprisonment, and university shutdowns. The high school students followed suit, and followed their university counterparts into jail. Thousands of students from Saigon's leading high school, most of them children of public servants and military officers, were sent to re-education camps. The result was a further drop in morale among those who were supposed to defend the Ngo family.

In a media interview, Nhu vowed to kill his father-in-law. He said "I will have his head cut off. I will hang him in the center of a square and let him dangle there. My wife will make the knot on the rope because she is proud of being a Vietnamese and she is a good patriot." In the same interview, Nhu claimed to have invented helicopters and pioneered their use in military combat.

On August 24, the Kennedy administration sent Cable 243

Cable 243

DEPTEL 243, also known as Telegram 243, the August 24 cable or most commonly Cable 243, was a high-profile message sent on August 24, 1963 by the United States Department of State to Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the US ambassador to South Vietnam...

to Lodge in Saigon, marking a change in American policy. The message advised Lodge to seek the removal of the Nhus from power, and to look for alternative leadership options if Diem refused to remove them. As the probability of Diem doing so was seen as highly unlikely, the message effectively meant the fomenting of a coup. Lodge replied that there was no hope of Diem removing Nhu, and began to make contact with possible coup plotters through CIA agents. The Voice of America also broadcast a statement blaming Nhu for the pagoda raids and absolving the army of culpability. Lodge believed that Nhu's influence had risen to unprecedented levels. He thought that Nhu's divide and conquer tactics had split the military into three power groups.
One of the recommendations of the Krulak Mendenhall mission, was to stop American funding for the Motion Picture Center, which produced hagiographic films about the Nhus. and to pursue covert actions aimed at dividing and discrediting Tung and Major General Ton That Dinh

Ton That Dinh

. Dinh was the youngest general in ARVN history, primarily due to his loyalty to the Ngo family. He was thus given command of the III Corps

III Corps (South Vietnam)

III Corps was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975...

forces surrounding the capital as he and Tung were the most trusted officers and could be relied upon to defend the family against any coups.

The McNamara Taylor mission resulted in the suspension of funding for Nhu's special forces until they were placed under the command of the army's Joint General Staff (JGS) and sent into battle. The report noted that one of the reasons for sending Tung's men into the field was because they "are a continuing support for Diệm". The Americans were also aware that removing the special forces from Saigon would increase the chances that a coup attempt would succeed, thereby encouraging the army to overthrow the president. Diệm and Nhu were undeterred by suspension of aid, keeping Tung and his men in the capital. Nhu accused the Americans of "destroying the psychology of our country and called Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

a "man of no morality".

At Nhu's request, Tung was reported to have been planning an operation under the cover of a government-organised student demonstration outside the US Embassy. In this plan, Tung's men would assassinate Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and other key officials among the confusion. Another target was the Buddhist leader Thich Tri Quang

Thich Tri Quang

Thích Trí Quang is a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk best known for his role in leading South Vietnam’s Buddhist population during the Buddhist crisis in 1963....

, who had been given asylum in the embassy after being targeted in the pagoda raids. According to the plan, Tung's men would then burn down the embassy and portray it as a riot staged by the populace.

Another notable religious attack was perpetrated by Nhu's right-hand man in 1963. A hugely oversized carp

Carp

Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...

was found swimming in a small pond near Da Nang

Da Nang

Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...

. Local Buddhists began to believe that the fish was a reincarnation

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

of one of Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha

's disciples. As more people made pilgrimages to the pond, Ngo family officials mined

Land mine

A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....

the pond and raked it with machine gun fire, but the fish survived. Nhu's special forces grenaded

Hand grenade

A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...

the pond, finally killing the carp. This backfired, because it generated more publicity—newspapers across the world ran stories about the miraculous fish. ARVN helicopters began landing at the site, and paratroopers filled their bottles with water that they believed to be magical.

Coup and death

By this time, Diem and Nhu knew that a group of ARVN generals and colonels were planning a coup, but did not know that Ton That Dinh

Ton That Dinh

was among them. Nhu ordered Dinh and Tung to plan a fake coup against the Ngo family. One of Nhu's objectives was to trick dissidents into joining the false uprising so that they could be identified and eliminated. Another objective of the public relations stunt was to give a false impression of the strength of the regime.

Codenamed Operation Bravo

Operation Bravo

Operation Bravo was the name of a phony coup planned by Ngo Dinh Nhu, the younger brother and chief advisor of President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam. Nhu was aware that there was a plot against the Ngo family, and he intended to have his loyalist forces stage a fake uprising, to induce...

, the first stage of the scheme would involve some of Tung's loyalist soldiers, disguised as insurgents led by apparently renegade junior officers, faking a coup and vandalising the capital. During the orchestrated chaos of the first coup, the disguised loyalists would riot and in the ensuing mayhem, kill the leading coup plotters, such as Generals Duong Van Minh

Duong Van Minh

Minh was born on 16 February 1916 in Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong Delta, the son of a wealthy landowner who served in a prominent position in the Finance Ministry of the French colonial administration...

, Tran Van Don

Tran Van Don

Trần Văn Đôn was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and one of the principal figures in the coup d'état which deposed Ngô Đình Diệm from the presidency of South Vietnam.-Family:...

, Le Van Kim

Le Van Kim

Lieutenant General Lê Văn Kim is a former general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He was the brother in law of General Trần Văn Đôn and together with General Dương Văn Minh, the trio organised the 1963 South Vietnamese coup which toppled President Ngô Đình Diệm and ended in his arrest and...

and junior officers that were helping them. The loyalists and some of Nhu's underworld connections were also to kill some figures who were assisting the conspirators, such as the titular but relatively powerless Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Tho

Nguyen Ngoc Tho

Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ is a Vietnamese politician who was the first Prime Minister of South Vietnam, serving from November 1963 to late January 1964. Thơ was appointed to head a civilian cabinet by the military junta of General Dương Văn Minh, which came to power after overthrowing and assassinating Ngô...

, CIA agent Lucien Conein

Lucien Conein

Lt. Col. Lucien Emile Conein was a noted U.S. Army officer and Office of Strategic Services / Central Intelligence Agency operative...

, who was on assignment in Vietnam as a military adviser, and Lodge. These would then be blamed on "neutralist and pro-communist elements". Tung would then announce the formation of a "revolutionary government" consisting of opposition activists who had not consented to being named in the government, while Diem and Nhu would pretend to be on the run and move to Vung Tau

Vung Tàu

Vũng Tàu is a city in southern Vietnam. Its population in 2005 was 240,000. The city area is including 13 urban wards and one village. It is the capital of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, and is the crude oil extraction center of Vietnam. It is also known as one of the most beautiful cities of tourism...

. A fake "counter-coup" was to follow, whereupon Tung's men, having left Saigon on the pretext of fighting communists, as well as Dinh's forces, would triumphantly re-enter Saigon to reaffirm the Diem regime. Nhu would then round up opposition figures.

Dinh was put in charge of the fake coup and was allowed the additional control of the 7th Division based in My Tho south of the capital, which was previously assigned to Diem loyalist General Huynh Van Cao

Huynh Van Cao

Major General Huỳnh Văn Cao was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He was born on September 26, 1927.He is married and has ten children and more than 20 grandchildren. In 1950, he graduated from Military school in Huế. He then attended College of Tactics and graduated in Hanoi in...

, who was in charge of the IV Corps

IV Corps (South Vietnam)

The IV Corps was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975...

in the Mekong Delta

Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...

. The reassignment of the 7th Division to Dinh gave his III Corps complete encirclement of Saigon. The encirclement would prevent Cao from storming the capital to save Diem as he had done during the 1960 coup attempt

1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt

.

Nhu and Tung, remained unaware of Dinh's allegiance to the rebels, and were fooled. Dinh said that fresh troops were needed in the capital, opining, "If we move reserves into the city, the Americans will be angry. They'll complain that we're not fighting the war. So we must camouflage our plan by sending the special forces out to the country. That will deceive them." Nhu had no idea that Dinh's real intention was to engulf Saigon with rebel units and lock Tung's loyalists in the countryside where they could not defend the Ngos. Tung and Nhu agreed to send all four Saigon-based special forces companies out of the capital on October 29.

On November 1, 1963, the real coup went ahead, with Cao and Tung's troops isolated outside Saigon, unable to rescue Diem and Nhu from the rebel encirclement. By the time the Ngo brothers realised that coup was not the fake action organised by the loyalists, Tung had been called to the Joint General Staff headquarters at Tan Son Nhut Air Base

Tan Son Nhut Air Base

Tan Son Nhut Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. It is located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...

, under the pretense of a routine meeting, and was seized and executed. Attempts by Diem and Nhu to make contact with Dinh were blocked by other generals, whose staff claimed that Dinh was elsewhere, leading Nhu and Diem brothers to think that he had been captured, unaware that he had turned against them.

Around 20:00, with the Presidential Guard hopelessly outnumbered, Diem and Nhu hurriedly packed and escaped the palace, with two loyalists: Cao Xuan Vy, the head of Nhu's Republican Youth, and Air Force

Vietnam Air Force

Lieutenant Do Tho, Diem's aide de camp. Tho was the nephew of Colonel Do Mau

Do Mau

Brigadier General Ðỗ Mậu was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam best known for his roles as a recruiting strategist in both the 1963 coup that toppled President Ngo Dinh Diem and the 1964 coup led by General Nguyen Khanh that deposed the junta of General Duong Van Minh...

, the director of military security and a participant in the coup plot. The brothers were believed to have escaped through a secret tunnel, and emerged in a wooded area in a nearby park, where they were picked up and taken to a supporter's house in the Chinese merchant district of Cholon. Nhu was reported to have suggested to Diem that the brothers split up, arguing that this would enhance their chances of survival. Nhu proposed that one travel to join Cao's IV Corps, while the other would go to the II Corps of General Nguyen Khanh

Nguyen Khanh

Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...

in the central highlands

Tây Nguyên

. Nhu felt that the rebel generals would not dare to kill one of them while the other was free, in case the surviving brother were to regain power. Diem turned down his younger brother.

The brothers sought asylum from the embassy of the Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

, but were turned down and stayed in the safehouse as they appealed to ARVN loyalists and attempted to negotiate with the coup leaders. Nhu's agents had fitted the home with a direct phone line to the palace, so the coup generals believed that the brothers were still besieged inside Gia Long. Neither the rebels nor the loyalist Presidential Guard had any idea that at 21:00 they were about to fight for an empty building, leading to futile deaths. Diem and Nhu refused to surrender, so the 5th Division

5th Division (South Vietnam)

The Fifth Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam —the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the III Corps that oversaw the region of the country surrounding the capital, Saigon....

of Colonel Nguyen Van Thieu

Nguyen Van Thieu

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , became head of a military junta, and then president after winning a fraudulent election...

besieged the palace and captured it by dawn.

In the early morning of November 2, Diem and Nhu agreed to surrender. The ARVN officers had promised the Ngo brothers safe exile and an "honorable retirement". The US did not want Diem and Nhu near Vietnam "because of the plots they will mount to try to regain power".

When Duong Van Minh

Duong Van Minh

found the palace empty, he was angered, but was soon informed of the Ngo brothers' whereabouts. Nhu and Diem fled to the nearby Catholic Church of St. Francis Xavier, where they were taken into custody and put into an armoured personnel carrier

Armoured personnel carrier

An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...

, to be taken back to military headquarters. The convoy was led by General Mai Huu Xuan

Mai Huu Xuan

Major General Mai Hữu Xuân was a general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and a participant in the November 1963 coup that deposed President Ngô Đình Diệm and ended in his assassination....

and the brothers were guarded inside the APC by Major Duong Hieu Nghia

Duong Hieu Nghia

Colonel Dương Hiếu Nghĩa, born in Sa Đéc in 1925, was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Nghia graduated from the Da Lat National Military Academy. During the Vietnam War, he served in various infantry and armored units. His highest administrative position was Province Chief of Vinh...

and Captain Nguyen Van Nhung

Nguyen Van Nhung

Major Nguyễn Văn Nhung was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . After joining the French Army in 1944 during the colonial era of Vietnam, he soon met and became the aide-de-camp and bodyguard of Dương Văn Minh, and spent the rest of his career in this role as Minh rose up the ranks...

, Minh's bodyguard.

Before the convoy had departed for the church, Minh was reported to have gestured to Nhung with two fingers. This was taken to be an order to kill both brothers. An investigation by General Tran Van Don

Tran Van Don

later determined that Nghia had shot the brothers at point-blank range

Point-blank range

In external ballistics, point-blank range is the distance between a firearm and a target of a given size such that the bullet in flight is expected to strike the target without adjusting the elevation of the firearm. The point-blank range will vary with the firearm and its particular ballistic...

with a semi-automatic firearm

Semi-automatic firearm

A semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a weapon which performs all steps necessary to prepare the weapon to fire again after firing—assuming cartridges remain in the weapon's feed device or magazine...

and that Nhung sprayed them with bullets before repeatedly stabbing the bodies with a knife.

Nghia gave his account of what occurred during the journey back to the military headquarters: "As we rode back to the Joint General Staff headquarters, Diem sat silently, but Nhu and the captain [Nhung] began to insult each other. I don't know who started it. The name-calling grew passionate. The captain had hated Nhu before. Now he was charged with emotion." Nghia said that "[Nhung] lunged at Nhu with a bayonet and stabbed him again and again, maybe fifteen or twenty times. Still in a rage, he turned to Diem, took out his revolver and shot him in the head. Then he looked back at Nhu, who was lying on the floor, twitching. He put a bullet into his head too. Neither Diem nor Nhu ever defended themselves. Their hands were tied."

According to the historian Howard Jones, the fact "that the killings failed to make the brothers into martyrs constituted a vivid testimonial to the depth of popular hatred they had aroused". Some months after the event, Minh was reported to have privately told an American that "We had no alternative. They had to be killed. Diem could not be allowed to live because he was too much respected among simple, gullible people in the countryside, especially the Catholics and the refugees. We had to kill Nhu because he was so widely feared—and he had created organizations that were the arms of his personal power."

Nhu and Diem's place of burial was never disclosed by the junta, and rumours persist to the present day. The speculated burial places include a military prison, a local cemetery, and the grounds of the JGS headquarters at Tan Son Nhut; there are also reports of cremation. Nobody was ever prosecuted for the killings.

External links

JFK and the Ngos' Coup – Provided by the National Security Archive
National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501 non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located in the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1985 by Scott Armstrong, it archives and publishes declassified U.S. government files concerning selected topics of US...

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