Tran Thien Khiem
Encyclopedia
General Trần Thiện Khiêm (born December 15, 1925 in Saigon, Cochinchina
, French Indochina
(now Vietnam)) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
during the Vietnam War
. During the 1960s he was involved in several coups. He helped President Ngo Dinh Diem
put down a November 1960 coup attempt
and was rewarded with promotion. In 1963 he was involved in the coup that deposed
and killed Diem
. However, he was unhappy with his share of the spoils and then joined with Nguyen Khanh
to stage a successful January 1964 coup
. In the next few months, the Catholic Khiem fell out with Khanh, whom he accused of being too heavily influenced by Buddhist activists. Khiem then tried to plot against Khanh, but was thwarted. He was implicated in the organization of the September 1964 coup attempt by Catholic Generals Lam Van Phat
and Duong Van Duc
, and was sent into exile to serve as Ambassador to the United States. In February 1965, Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao
, who had accompanied him to Washington had returned to Saigon and launched a coup with Phat. This was done with the organizational support of Khiem. The coup failed but other officers took the opportunity to force Khanh into exile, and Khiem expressed satisfaction. He later returned to Vietnam when the political climate among the generals was more favourable and became Prime Minister under President Nguyen Van Thieu
, resigning only in the last month before the Fall of Saigon
and the end of the war.
of the French-backed State of Vietnam
of Emperor Bao Dai
, which fought the Vietminh of Ho Chi Minh
. He became a captain in 1951 and became a major in July 1954. In 1957, as a colonel, he became a Deputy Chief of General Staff/Logistics and served as acting Chief of Joint General Staff in October. From 1957 to 1958 he attended the High Command and General Staff in the United States, and upon his return, served as 4th Field Division Commander until February 1960. In September, he switched to command the 5th Division
, which at the time was based in My Tho.
On November 11, 1960, Colonels Vuong Van Dong
and Nguyen Chanh Thi
launched a coup attempt against President Ngo Dinh Diem
, but after surrounding the palace, they stopped attacking and decided to negotiate a power-sharing agreement. Diem then falsely promised reform, allowing him time for loyalists to come to the rescue. The rebels had also failed to seal the highways into the capital to block loyalist reinforcements. Khiem was a Catholic with ties to Diem's older brother, Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc; Diem was Khiem's godfather. Khiem brought in tanks from the Second Armored Battalion from My Tho, a town in the Mekong Delta
south of Saigon. As the false promises of reform were being aired, Khiem's men approached the palace grounds. Some of the rebels switched sides as the power balance changed. After a brief but violent battle that killed around 400 people, the coup attempt was crushed. Khiem was made a brigadier general after serving as the head of the 21st Division
, and was appointed Chief of Staff of the combined armed forces and made a major general in December 1962.
was planning one of the many coup plots that engulfed Saigon and destabilised the regime, with the help of Tran Kim Tuyen
. Thao's plans were shelved when American CIA agent Lucien Conein
instructed Khiem, to stop the coup on the grounds that it was premature. Thao was actually a communist spy whose motivation for involvement in the plotting is generally attributed to communist instructions for him to cause infighting within the ARVN whenever possible. He later joined the main plot, of which Khiem was a part.
As Diem was known for his ability to outwit coup plotters, those is the plot did not fully trust each other. On the morning of the coup, an emotional Khiem approached General Ton That Dinh
with tears welling in his red eyes and asked him to keep their conversation confidential. After the III Corps commander agreed, Khiem claimed that he wanted to cancel the coup, saying "Dinh, I think we still have time to talk to the old man. I don't want to hurt him. Have pity on him!" Dinh contemplated the situation and said that he would still proceed with the overthrow. Khiem then reported this to Don, and claimed that he had placed Chinese medicinal oil into his eyes to irritate and redden them and thus give the appearance he had become remorseful about the coup, in order to test Dinh's loyalty to the plot.
Both Minh and Don were still wary of Khiem and Dinh's loyalty up to the last minute, as both were Catholics who were favourites of the Ngo family, who had been rewarded for their loyalty not competence. Khiem was Diem's godson. The other generals were still worried that Dinh might switch sides and go through with the second part of Nhu's fake coup, and that Khiem's alleged test on Dinh was simply done to deflect suspicion on him. The generals were also concerned that they would not have enough forces to overcome the loyalists.
During the coup, Thao commanded some tanks, which surrounded Gia Long Palace and helped launch the full scale attack at 03:30 on 2 November. At daybreak Thao's forces stormed the palace, but found it empty; Diem and Nhu had escaped. A captured loyalist revealed the brothers' hiding place and under the orders of Khiem, Thao went after them. Khiem ordered Thao to ensure that the brothers were not physically harmed. Thao arrived at the house in Cholon where the brothers were hiding and brought in a convoy to arrest them. The brothers were subsequently executed en route to military headquarters despite being promised safe exile, apparently on the orders of General Duong Van Minh
. Diem's aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Do Tho had earlier urged Diem to surrender, saying that he was sure that his uncle Do Mau
, along with Dinh and Khiem, would guarantee their safety. Tho wrote in his diary afterwards that "I consider myself responsible for having led them to their death".
that surrounded Saigon. Khiem controlled the 5th
and 7th Divisions of the ARVN, which were based in Bien Hoa
and My Tho north and south of Saigon respectively. Khiem was disgruntled and easily recruited into another coup.
The coup plot was initiated by Brigadier General Do Mau
, who had been the head of military security under Diem and had a thorough knowledge of the backgrounds of most of the senior officers and their strengths and weaknesses. The MRC feared Mau, and placed him in the relatively powerless post of Minister of Information. Mau began to seek out other slighted officers, including Khiem, Generals Nguyen Khanh
and Thi, who had returned from exile after Diem's death. As the coup plot began to solidify, Khanh came to the fore of the group. It has been concluded by some analysts that Khiem—who went on to be Khanh's second in command in terms of real power after the coup was successful—was more pre-eminent during the early phases of the planning, but that as a Catholic who had been rapidly promoted by Diem after changing religion, he "did not dare to carry out a coup d'etat himself out of fear that the Buddhists would react strongly against him and accuse him of trying to reestablish the Ngo Regime." Another factor seen as vital in bringing Khanh to the forefront of the coup group was the fact that the US military leadership deemed Khanh more capable than Khiem and equally likely to work in accordance with US interests. Khanh was highly regarded by Harkins, who thought of him as "the strongest of all corps commanders." According to a CIA assessment, Khanh had been "consistently favorable to U.S. programs and advice".
Khiem, Khanh and Mau kept in touch surreptitiously on a regular basis, supplementing their forces with an assortment of Marine
, Air Force and Special Forces officers. They scheduled the coup for 0400 January 30. According to the plan, Khiem's III Corps forces would surround the homes of the sleeping junta members in Saigon while Khanh and a paratrooper unit would occupy the military headquarters at Tan Son Nhut Air Base
.
On the night of January 29, Khiem ordered troops to assume their positions around Saigon, including armored cars and tanks and some elements from the 5th and 7th Divisions. Khanh then went to sleep. Khanh 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, Khanh had taken over without a shot being fired. Generals Duong Van Minh
, Tran Van Don
and Le Van Kim
woke up to find Khiem's men surrounding their houses and thought it to be a quixotic stunt by some disgruntled young officers, having had no inkling of the plot. Khanh had them put under house arrest and later charged them with neutralism. In a morning radio broadcast Khanh said that he had conducted the coup because of the junta's failure to make progress against the Vietcong. After the coup, Khiem became Defense Minister and the Chairman of Joint General Staff while serving on the junta.
Khiem said that "Khanh felt there was no choice but to accept since the influence of Tri Quang was so great that he could not only turn the majority of the people against the government but could influence the effectiveness of the armed forces". They then sought out Taylor and sought a private endorsement for a coup against Khanh, but the US ambassador did not want any more changes in leadership, fearing a corrosive effect on the government. This deterred Khiem's group from toppling Khanh.
The division among the generals came to a head at a meeting of the MRC on August 26–27. Khanh claimed that the instability was due to troublemaking by members and supporters of the Catholic-aligned Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang
(Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam), who he accused of putting partisan plotting ahead of the national interest. Prominent officers associated with the Dai Viet included Thieu and Khiem. Khiem blamed Khanh's concessions to Buddhist activists as the reason for the demonstrations and the rural losses to the communists. Thieu and another Catholic General Nguyen Huu Co
called for the replacement of Khanh with Minh, but the latter refused. Minh reportedly claimed that Khanh was the only one who would get funding from Washington, so they support him, prompting Khiem to angrily say "Obviously, Khanh is a puppet of the US government, and we are tired of being told by the Americans how we should run our internal affairs".
After more arguing between the senior officers, they agreed on August 27 that Khanh, Minh, and Khiem would rule as a triumvirate for two months, until a new civilian government could be formed. The trio then brought paratroopers into Saigon to end the rioting. However, the momentum petered out due to the lack of unity in the ruling triumvirate. Khanh dominated the decisionmaking and sidelined Khiem and Minh. Khanh then blamed Khiem for organizing a failed coup attempt led by Generals Lam Van Phat
and Duong Van Duc
on September 13. General Huynh Van Cao
, a Catholic and Diem loyalist while the former president was alive, claimed in a 1972 newspaper interview that Khiem, by then prime minister, had asked him to join the coup. Cao claimed that he declined Khiem's invitation, mildly mocking him by asking "You're part of the 'Troika' now...won't you be overthrowing yourself?" and pointing out that a political upheaval in Saigon would be a bad idea because Vietnam was prominent during the ongoing US presidential election campaign and negative publicity could lead to weakening US public and political support for South Vietnam. Khiem's lack of public action was seen as tacit support for the coup; A US Embassy log during the coup claimed that the Thieu and Khiem "seem so passive that they appear to have been either tacitly supporting or associated with his move by Duc and Phat", and that Khiem "issued expressions of firm support for Khanh somewhat belatedly", as control was eventually reestablished.
In the meantime, Khiem had been putting pressure on his bitter rival Khanh while serving as his ambassador by charging him and the Buddhists of seeking a "neutralist solution" and "negotiating with the communists".
In January 1965, the junta-appointed Prime Minister Tran Van Huong
introduced a series of measures to expand the military and war effort by widening the terms of conscription. This provoked widespread anti-Huong demonstrations and riots across the country, mainly from conscription-aged students and pro-negotiations Buddhists. Reliant on Buddhist support, Khanh then decided to have the armed forces take over, and on January 27, Khanh removed Huong in a bloodless putsch. Khanh's deposal of the prime minister nullified a counter-plot involving Huong that had developed during the civil disorders. In an attempt to pre-empt his deposal, Huong had backed a plot led by some Dai Viet-oriented Catholic officers reported to include Generals Thieu and Nguyen Huu Co
. They planned to remove Khanh and bring Khiem back from Washington. The US Embassy in Saigon was privately supportive of the aim, but was not ready to fully back the move as they regarded it as poorly thought out and potentially a political embarrassment due to the need to use an American plane to transport some plotters, including Khiem, between Saigon and Washington.
By this time, the US relationship with Khanh had broken down, and the US became more intent on a regime change as Khanh was reliant on Buddhist support, which they saw as an obstacle to an expansion of the war. In the first week of February, Taylor told the leading officers that the US was not supporting Khanh, and they thought that Khiem was a possible replacement although not among the most preferable. However, the candidates favoured by the Americans fell behind Thao in their planning.
On 19 February, Thao and General Lam Van Phat
started their coup attempt, seizing the military headquarters, the post office and the radio station. Thao made a radio announcement stating that he would remove the "dictator" Khanh, and would recall Khiem to Saigon to lead the junta. Although Khiem was part of the plot, the timing of Thao's announcement caught Khiem off guard, asleep in his Maryland home. When informed of what was happening, Khiem sent a cable pledging "total support" to the plot. Thao had planned for Don to become Defense Minister and Chief of Staff of the military, but Dai Viet and the Catholic activist professor Nguyen Bao Kiem had insisted on installing the Catholic Khiem. During the announcement of the coup, Thao's associates made pro-Diem speeches and hardline Catholic statements.
By this time, Khiem was preparing to return to Saigon to join in on the action or take over if it became successful. His colleagues had anticipated that the Americans would give them an aircraft so that Khiem could return to Vietnam, but second thoughts arose among Taylor and Westmoreland. The two American generals had lost confidence in Khanh, but the pro-Diem political ideology being expressed by Thao's supporters on radio alienated them, as they feared that the coup plotters would destabilize and polarize the country in they took power. The Americans wanted Khanh out but were worried that Phat and Thao could galvanize support for the beleaguered Khanh through their extremely divisive pro-Diem views, which had the potential to provoke large-scale sectarian divisions in South Vietnam.
The Marine Brigade
commander, General Le Nguyen Khang
, appealed to the US Embassy in Saigon to not allow Khiem to depart the US. As a result of this, Taylor messaged the State Department that "Regardless what ultimate outcome may be we feel Khiem's arrival here...would only add tinder to what this evening appears to be very explosive situation with possibilities of internecine strife between armed forces units...Urge he not try return [to] Saigon until situation more clarified."
After a day of chaos, the coup collapsed when, anti-coup forces swept into the city. Whether the rebels were defeated or a deal was struck to end the revolt in exchange for Khanh's removal is disputed, but most believe the latter as the plotters had met Ky beforehand and the collapse was rather orderly. Although the coup failed and Khiem did not return, the Armed Forces Council adopted a vote of no confidence in Khanh, and Nguyen Cao Ky
and Thi became the most powerful figures in the junta. In the meantime, Thao and Phat were sentenced to death in absentia. Thao was hunted down and killed in mysterious circumstances by other factions with the military leadership, while Phat evaded capture for a few years before surrendering and being pardoned. Despite his failure to take power, Khiem said that Khanh’s demise made him “very happy. I think my objective has been realized.” The new junta decided to ignore Khiem’s involvement in the coup and he remained in Washington as the ambassador, with no further action taken.
In October 1965 the junta of Ky and Thieu made Khiem the Ambassador to Taiwan and he served there until mid 1968. He then returned to Vietnam and served under President Thieu as Interior Minister for a year before becoming Deputy Prime Minister at the start of 1969. In September 1969 he became prime minister and defense minister, and he stayed in the role until April 1975 when he resigned and left the country as the communists were in the process of completing their victory
over South Vietnam. However, he had little power as Thieu operated what was virtually a one-man rule.
Cochinchina
Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
, 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....
(now Vietnam)) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. During the 1960s he was involved in several coups. He helped President Ngo Dinh Diem
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...
put down a November 1960 coup attempt
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 was rewarded with promotion. In 1963 he was involved in the coup that deposed
1963 South Vietnamese coup
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 the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...
and killed Diem
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...
. However, he was unhappy with his share of the spoils and then joined with 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,...
to stage a successful January 1964 coup
1964 South Vietnamese coup
Before dawn on January 30, 1964, General Nguyen Khanh ousted the military junta led by General Duong Van Minh from the leadership of South Vietnam without firing a shot. It came less than three months after Minh's junta had themselves come to power in a bloody coup against then President Ngo Dinh...
. In the next few months, the Catholic Khiem fell out with Khanh, whom he accused of being too heavily influenced by Buddhist activists. Khiem then tried to plot against Khanh, but was thwarted. He was implicated in the organization of the September 1964 coup attempt by Catholic Generals Lam Van Phat
Lam Van Phat
Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...
and Duong Van Duc
Duong Van Duc
Major General Dương Văn Đức was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He is best known for leading a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh on September 14, 1964...
, and was sent into exile to serve as Ambassador to the United States. In February 1965, 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...
, who had accompanied him to Washington had returned to Saigon and launched a coup with Phat. This was done with the organizational support of Khiem. The coup failed but other officers took the opportunity to force Khanh into exile, and Khiem expressed satisfaction. He later returned to Vietnam when the political climate among the generals was more favourable and became Prime Minister under President 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...
, resigning only in the last month before the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
and the end of the war.
Career
Khiem graduated from the Vietnamese National Military Academy in Da Lat on July 12, 1947. He became a 1st Lieutenant in June 1948 and served in the Vietnamese National ArmyVietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
of the French-backed 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...
of Emperor 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...
, which fought the Vietminh of 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...
. He became a captain in 1951 and became a major in July 1954. In 1957, as a colonel, he became a Deputy Chief of General Staff/Logistics and served as acting Chief of Joint General Staff in October. From 1957 to 1958 he attended the High Command and General Staff in the United States, and upon his return, served as 4th Field Division Commander until February 1960. In September, he switched to command 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....
, which at the time was based in My Tho.
1960 defense of Diem against coup
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...
and 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...
launched a coup attempt against President Ngo Dinh Diem
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...
, but after surrounding the palace, they stopped attacking and decided to negotiate a power-sharing agreement. Diem then falsely promised reform, allowing him time for loyalists to come to the rescue. The rebels had also failed to seal the highways into the capital to block loyalist reinforcements. Khiem was a Catholic with ties to Diem's older brother, Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc; Diem was Khiem's godfather. Khiem brought in tanks from the Second Armored Battalion from My Tho, a town 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...
south of Saigon. As the false promises of reform were being aired, Khiem's men approached the palace grounds. Some of the rebels switched sides as the power balance changed. After a brief but violent battle that killed around 400 people, the coup attempt was crushed. Khiem was made a brigadier general after serving as the head of the 21st Division
21st Division (South Vietnam)
The 21st 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 IV Corps that oversaw the southernmost region of South Vietnam, the Mekong Delta....
, and was appointed Chief of Staff of the combined armed forces and made a major general in December 1962.
1963 coup against Diem
Khiem's subordinate and protégé Pham Ngoc ThaoPham 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...
was planning one of the many coup plots that engulfed Saigon and destabilised the regime, with the help of Tran Kim Tuyen
Tran Kim Tuyen
Dr. Trần Kim Tuyến was the chief of intelligence of South Vietnam under its first President Ngo Dinh Diem from 1955 to 1963. As a Roman Catholic, he was trusted by the Ngo family, and was part of their inner circle...
. Thao's plans were shelved when American 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...
instructed Khiem, to stop the coup on the grounds that it was premature. Thao was actually a communist spy whose motivation for involvement in the plotting is generally attributed to communist instructions for him to cause infighting within the ARVN whenever possible. He later joined the main plot, of which Khiem was a part.
As Diem was known for his ability to outwit coup plotters, those is the plot did not fully trust each other. On the morning of the coup, an emotional Khiem approached 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...
with tears welling in his red eyes and asked him to keep their conversation confidential. After the III Corps commander agreed, Khiem claimed that he wanted to cancel the coup, saying "Dinh, I think we still have time to talk to the old man. I don't want to hurt him. Have pity on him!" Dinh contemplated the situation and said that he would still proceed with the overthrow. Khiem then reported this to Don, and claimed that he had placed Chinese medicinal oil into his eyes to irritate and redden them and thus give the appearance he had become remorseful about the coup, in order to test Dinh's loyalty to the plot.
Both Minh and Don were still wary of Khiem and Dinh's loyalty up to the last minute, as both were Catholics who were favourites of the Ngo family, who had been rewarded for their loyalty not competence. Khiem was Diem's godson. The other generals were still worried that Dinh might switch sides and go through with the second part of Nhu's fake coup, and that Khiem's alleged test on Dinh was simply done to deflect suspicion on him. The generals were also concerned that they would not have enough forces to overcome the loyalists.
During the coup, Thao commanded some tanks, which surrounded Gia Long Palace and helped launch the full scale attack at 03:30 on 2 November. At daybreak Thao's forces stormed the palace, but found it empty; Diem and Nhu had escaped. A captured loyalist revealed the brothers' hiding place and under the orders of Khiem, Thao went after them. Khiem ordered Thao to ensure that the brothers were not physically harmed. Thao arrived at the house in Cholon where the brothers were hiding and brought in a convoy to arrest them. The brothers were subsequently executed en route to military headquarters despite being promised safe exile, apparently on the orders of General 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...
. Diem's aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Do Tho had earlier urged Diem to surrender, saying that he was sure that his uncle 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...
, along with Dinh and Khiem, would guarantee their safety. Tho wrote in his diary afterwards that "I consider myself responsible for having led them to their death".
1964 coup against Minh
After the 1963 coup, the key figures took the choice jobs in the Military Revolutionary Council, and Khiem was demoted from being Chief of Staff of the armed forces to the commander of the III CorpsIII 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...
that surrounded Saigon. Khiem controlled the 5th
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....
and 7th Divisions of the ARVN, which were based in Bien Hoa
Bien Hoa
Biên Hòa is a city in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, about east of Ho Chi Minh City , to which Bien Hoa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1.- Demographics :In 1989 the estimated population was over 300,000. In 2005, the population wss 541,495...
and My Tho north and south of Saigon respectively. Khiem was disgruntled and easily recruited into another coup.
The coup plot was initiated by Brigadier General 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...
, who had been the head of military security under Diem and had a thorough knowledge of the backgrounds of most of the senior officers and their strengths and weaknesses. The MRC feared Mau, and placed him in the relatively powerless post of Minister of Information. Mau began to seek out other slighted officers, including Khiem, Generals 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,...
and Thi, who had returned from exile after Diem's death. As the coup plot began to solidify, Khanh came to the fore of the group. It has been concluded by some analysts that Khiem—who went on to be Khanh's second in command in terms of real power after the coup was successful—was more pre-eminent during the early phases of the planning, but that as a Catholic who had been rapidly promoted by Diem after changing religion, he "did not dare to carry out a coup d'etat himself out of fear that the Buddhists would react strongly against him and accuse him of trying to reestablish the Ngo Regime." Another factor seen as vital in bringing Khanh to the forefront of the coup group was the fact that the US military leadership deemed Khanh more capable than Khiem and equally likely to work in accordance with US interests. Khanh was highly regarded by Harkins, who thought of him as "the strongest of all corps commanders." According to a CIA assessment, Khanh had been "consistently favorable to U.S. programs and advice".
Khiem, Khanh and Mau kept in touch surreptitiously on a regular basis, supplementing their forces with an assortment of Marine
Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps
The Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps ) was part of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam . It was established by Ngo Dinh Diem in 1954 when he was Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, which became the Republic of Vietnam in 1955. The longest-serving commander was Lieutenant General Le...
, Air Force and Special Forces officers. They scheduled the coup for 0400 January 30. According to the plan, Khiem's III Corps forces would surround the homes of the sleeping junta members in Saigon while Khanh and a paratrooper unit would occupy the military 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...
.
On the night of January 29, Khiem ordered troops to assume their positions around Saigon, including armored cars and tanks and some elements from the 5th and 7th Divisions. Khanh then went to sleep. Khanh 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, Khanh had taken over without a shot being fired. 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:...
and 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...
woke up to find Khiem's men surrounding their houses and thought it to be a quixotic stunt by some disgruntled young officers, having had no inkling of the plot. Khanh had them put under house arrest and later charged them with neutralism. In a morning radio broadcast Khanh said that he had conducted the coup because of the junta's failure to make progress against the Vietcong. After the coup, Khiem became Defense Minister and the Chairman of Joint General Staff while serving on the junta.
Junta infighting with Khanh
In August 1964, after Khanh decided to take more power for himself by declaring a state of emergency and introducing a new constitution, Buddhists launched protests against the new junta, claiming that there was a plot to revive the Diem era, according to them, by Can Lao veterans, Catholics, and Dai Viet supporters, pinpointing the Catholic Khiem and Thieu, who were favoured by Diem. Khanh made concessions to the Buddhists, sparking opposition from Khiem and Thieu. They then tried to remove him in favour of Minh, and they recruited many officers.Khiem said that "Khanh felt there was no choice but to accept since the influence of Tri Quang was so great that he could not only turn the majority of the people against the government but could influence the effectiveness of the armed forces". They then sought out Taylor and sought a private endorsement for a coup against Khanh, but the US ambassador did not want any more changes in leadership, fearing a corrosive effect on the government. This deterred Khiem's group from toppling Khanh.
The division among the generals came to a head at a meeting of the MRC on August 26–27. Khanh claimed that the instability was due to troublemaking by members and supporters of the Catholic-aligned 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), who he accused of putting partisan plotting ahead of the national interest. Prominent officers associated with the Dai Viet included Thieu and Khiem. Khiem blamed Khanh's concessions to Buddhist activists as the reason for the demonstrations and the rural losses to the communists. Thieu and another Catholic General Nguyen Huu Co
Nguyen Huu Co
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Hữu Có served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and was prominent in several coups and juntas in the 1960s....
called for the replacement of Khanh with Minh, but the latter refused. Minh reportedly claimed that Khanh was the only one who would get funding from Washington, so they support him, prompting Khiem to angrily say "Obviously, Khanh is a puppet of the US government, and we are tired of being told by the Americans how we should run our internal affairs".
After more arguing between the senior officers, they agreed on August 27 that Khanh, Minh, and Khiem would rule as a triumvirate for two months, until a new civilian government could be formed. The trio then brought paratroopers into Saigon to end the rioting. However, the momentum petered out due to the lack of unity in the ruling triumvirate. Khanh dominated the decisionmaking and sidelined Khiem and Minh. Khanh then blamed Khiem for organizing a failed coup attempt led by Generals Lam Van Phat
Lam Van Phat
Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...
and Duong Van Duc
Duong Van Duc
Major General Dương Văn Đức was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He is best known for leading a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh on September 14, 1964...
on September 13. 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...
, a Catholic and Diem loyalist while the former president was alive, claimed in a 1972 newspaper interview that Khiem, by then prime minister, had asked him to join the coup. Cao claimed that he declined Khiem's invitation, mildly mocking him by asking "You're part of the 'Troika' now...won't you be overthrowing yourself?" and pointing out that a political upheaval in Saigon would be a bad idea because Vietnam was prominent during the ongoing US presidential election campaign and negative publicity could lead to weakening US public and political support for South Vietnam. Khiem's lack of public action was seen as tacit support for the coup; A US Embassy log during the coup claimed that the Thieu and Khiem "seem so passive that they appear to have been either tacitly supporting or associated with his move by Duc and Phat", and that Khiem "issued expressions of firm support for Khanh somewhat belatedly", as control was eventually reestablished.
Plotting from overseas
By the end of the year, Khanh had prevailed in the power struggle with Khiem and Minh. He despatched Khiem to Washington as the ambassador with his protege Thao was his press attaché to keep them away, having convinced that Khiem was destabilizing Saigon. In late December 1964, Khanh summoned Thao back to Saigon. Thao suspected that Khanh was attempting to have him killed, while Khanh thought that Thao and Khiem were plotting against him. Fearing that he would be arrested upon arrival, Thao attempted to outmanoeuvre Khanh and immediately went underground to plot.In the meantime, Khiem had been putting pressure on his bitter rival Khanh while serving as his ambassador by charging him and the Buddhists of seeking a "neutralist solution" and "negotiating with the communists".
In January 1965, the junta-appointed Prime Minister Tran Van Huong
Tran Van Huong
Trần Văn Hương was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the penultimate president of South Vietnam prior to its surrender to the communist forces of North Vietnam.-Biography:...
introduced a series of measures to expand the military and war effort by widening the terms of conscription. This provoked widespread anti-Huong demonstrations and riots across the country, mainly from conscription-aged students and pro-negotiations Buddhists. Reliant on Buddhist support, Khanh then decided to have the armed forces take over, and on January 27, Khanh removed Huong in a bloodless putsch. Khanh's deposal of the prime minister nullified a counter-plot involving Huong that had developed during the civil disorders. In an attempt to pre-empt his deposal, Huong had backed a plot led by some Dai Viet-oriented Catholic officers reported to include Generals Thieu and Nguyen Huu Co
Nguyen Huu Co
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Hữu Có served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and was prominent in several coups and juntas in the 1960s....
. They planned to remove Khanh and bring Khiem back from Washington. The US Embassy in Saigon was privately supportive of the aim, but was not ready to fully back the move as they regarded it as poorly thought out and potentially a political embarrassment due to the need to use an American plane to transport some plotters, including Khiem, between Saigon and Washington.
By this time, the US relationship with Khanh had broken down, and the US became more intent on a regime change as Khanh was reliant on Buddhist support, which they saw as an obstacle to an expansion of the war. In the first week of February, Taylor told the leading officers that the US was not supporting Khanh, and they thought that Khiem was a possible replacement although not among the most preferable. However, the candidates favoured by the Americans fell behind Thao in their planning.
On 19 February, Thao and General Lam Van Phat
Lam Van Phat
Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...
started their coup attempt, seizing the military headquarters, the post office and the radio station. Thao made a radio announcement stating that he would remove the "dictator" Khanh, and would recall Khiem to Saigon to lead the junta. Although Khiem was part of the plot, the timing of Thao's announcement caught Khiem off guard, asleep in his Maryland home. When informed of what was happening, Khiem sent a cable pledging "total support" to the plot. Thao had planned for Don to become Defense Minister and Chief of Staff of the military, but Dai Viet and the Catholic activist professor Nguyen Bao Kiem had insisted on installing the Catholic Khiem. During the announcement of the coup, Thao's associates made pro-Diem speeches and hardline Catholic statements.
By this time, Khiem was preparing to return to Saigon to join in on the action or take over if it became successful. His colleagues had anticipated that the Americans would give them an aircraft so that Khiem could return to Vietnam, but second thoughts arose among Taylor and Westmoreland. The two American generals had lost confidence in Khanh, but the pro-Diem political ideology being expressed by Thao's supporters on radio alienated them, as they feared that the coup plotters would destabilize and polarize the country in they took power. The Americans wanted Khanh out but were worried that Phat and Thao could galvanize support for the beleaguered Khanh through their extremely divisive pro-Diem views, which had the potential to provoke large-scale sectarian divisions in South Vietnam.
The Marine Brigade
Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps
The Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps ) was part of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam . It was established by Ngo Dinh Diem in 1954 when he was Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, which became the Republic of Vietnam in 1955. The longest-serving commander was Lieutenant General Le...
commander, General Le Nguyen Khang
Le Nguyen Khang
Lieutenant General Lê Nguyên Khang was a Marine Commander of the Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps for South Vietnam.-Assignments:*Commander of the Marine Corps,*VNN Commander,*Commander of the Capital Military Zone,...
, appealed to the US Embassy in Saigon to not allow Khiem to depart the US. As a result of this, Taylor messaged the State Department that "Regardless what ultimate outcome may be we feel Khiem's arrival here...would only add tinder to what this evening appears to be very explosive situation with possibilities of internecine strife between armed forces units...Urge he not try return [to] Saigon until situation more clarified."
After a day of chaos, the coup collapsed when, anti-coup forces swept into the city. Whether the rebels were defeated or a deal was struck to end the revolt in exchange for Khanh's removal is disputed, but most believe the latter as the plotters had met Ky beforehand and the collapse was rather orderly. Although the coup failed and Khiem did not return, the Armed Forces Council adopted a vote of no confidence in Khanh, and Nguyen Cao Ky
Nguyen Cao Ky
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ served as the chief of the Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South Vietnam in a military junta from 1965 to 1967...
and Thi became the most powerful figures in the junta. In the meantime, Thao and Phat were sentenced to death in absentia. Thao was hunted down and killed in mysterious circumstances by other factions with the military leadership, while Phat evaded capture for a few years before surrendering and being pardoned. Despite his failure to take power, Khiem said that Khanh’s demise made him “very happy. I think my objective has been realized.” The new junta decided to ignore Khiem’s involvement in the coup and he remained in Washington as the ambassador, with no further action taken.
In October 1965 the junta of Ky and Thieu made Khiem the Ambassador to Taiwan and he served there until mid 1968. He then returned to Vietnam and served under President Thieu as Interior Minister for a year before becoming Deputy Prime Minister at the start of 1969. In September 1969 he became prime minister and defense minister, and he stayed in the role until April 1975 when he resigned and left the country as the communists were in the process of completing their victory
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
over South Vietnam. However, he had little power as Thieu operated what was virtually a one-man rule.