Diem Assassinated: A Coup Escalates Vietnam's War

Two bullets in the back of an armored personnel carrier ended the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem on November 2, 1963, barely 20 days before another assassination would reshape the same conflict from the other side of the Pacific. Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu were captured by South Vietnamese military officers after fleeing the presidential palace through a secret tunnel and taking refuge in a Catholic church in Cholon, Saigon's Chinese district. The coup had been months in the making, driven by a coalition of South Vietnamese generals who had grown exasperated with the Diem regime's corruption, its persecution of the Buddhist majority, and its increasingly erratic prosecution of the war against the Viet Cong. The dramatic self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc on a Saigon street in June 1963 had shocked the world and sharpened opposition to the regime. Madame Nhu's callous reference to the immolations as "barbecues" deepened international revulsion. Washington's role was ambiguous and remains contested. The Kennedy administration, frustrated with Diem's refusal to implement reforms, sent signals through ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. that the United States would not oppose a change in leadership. A pivotal August 24 cable, drafted by mid-level State Department officials while senior advisors were away for the weekend, assured the generals of American acquiescence. Kennedy reportedly did not intend for Diem to be killed, and reacted to the news of the murders with visible shock. The aftermath proved disastrous for South Vietnam. The military junta that replaced Diem proved even less stable and less effective. Twelve different governments would hold power in Saigon over the next two years. The Viet Cong exploited the political chaos to expand their control over the countryside, accelerating American escalation toward the commitment of ground combat troops in 1965. The coup solved nothing and cost everything.