1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état

1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état
Part of the Buddhist crisis of the Vietnam War

President Diệm of South Vietnam, deposed in a coup
Date1–2 November 1963
Location10°47′06″N 106°42′09″E / 10.7850°N 106.7025°E / 10.7850; 106.7025 (Cộng Hòa barracks)
Result
Belligerents

Republic of Vietnam Military Forces rebels
Joint General Staff


Supported by:

 Diệm government

Commanders and leaders

Trần Văn Đôn
Dương Văn Minh
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Lê Văn Kim
Tôn Thất Đính
Nguyễn Hữu Có
Mai Hữu Xuân
Đỗ Mậu
Trần Thiện Khiêm
Trần Văn Minh
Phạm Xuân Chiểu
Lê Văn Nghiêm
Đỗ Cao Trí
Nguyễn Khánh
Phạm Ngọc Thảo
(spy of North Vietnam)
Đỗ Khắc Mai
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Nguyễn Ngọc Loan


Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Lucien Conein

Phan Khắc Sửu
Trần Văn Hương
Phan Huy Quát
Ngô Đình Diệm 
Ngô Đình Nhu 
Ngô Đình Cẩn 
Huỳnh Văn Cao
Bùi Dzinh
Huỳnh Văn Lạc (POW)
Lê Quang Tung 
Hồ Tấn Quyền 
Huỳnh Hữu Hiền (POW)
Trương Vĩnh Lễ
Strength
Two battalions of the 5th Division
Two marine battalions
Two airborne battalions
Miscellaneous trainee units and air force aircraft
~150 men of the Presidential Guard
ARVN Special Forces
Casualties and losses
89 dead
46 wounded
76 dead
44 wounded
2 prisoners
Civilians: 20 dead, 146 wounded

In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm and the Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) were deposed by a group of CIA-backed Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with Diệm's handling of the Buddhist crisis and the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong threat to South Vietnam. In South Vietnam, the coup was referred to as Cách mạng 1-11-63 ("1 November 1963 Revolution").

The Kennedy administration had been aware of the coup planning, but Cable 243 from the United States Department of State to U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. stated that it was U.S. policy not to try to stop it. Lucien Conein, the Central Intelligence Agency's liaison between the U.S. Embassy and the coup planners, told them that the U.S. would not intervene to stop it. Conein also provided funds to the coup leaders.

The coup was led by General Dương Văn Minh and started on 1 November 1963. It proceeded smoothly, for many loyalist leaders were captured after being caught off-guard, and casualties were light. Diệm was captured and assassinated the next day, along with his brother and advisor Ngô Đình Nhu.