General Minh called Diem and told him that if he did not resign immediately the presidential palace would be attacked. When Diem did not respond, the plotters launched an air attack on the presidential palace just before dark. In the early hours of November 2, Diem finally called General Don and offered to surrender if his party received safe passage out of the country. Don agreed to the terms, but Diem did not inform Don of his whereabouts.

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Diem and Nhu had escaped through a secret tunnel under the presidential palace and had made their way to Cholon, the Chinese district of Saigon. In circumstances that are still unclear today, Diem and Nhu were tracked down and taken into custody by forces loyal to the plotters. A little while later Diem and Nhu were killed inside an armored personnel carrier while they were being transported to the joint general staff headquarters building.

When President Kennedy heard the news, he reacted with shock to the deaths of Diem and his brother. Their murders had not been in the script.

Over the next several years a steady stream of petty generals ruled in Saigon while the war intensified and American involvement grew substantially. Three weeks after the deaths of Diem and Nhu, President Kennedy himself was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Despite the behind-the-scenes American involvement in the death of Ngo Dinh Diem, the Assassinations Report concluded by stating, The details of Diem’s and Nhu’s deaths are not known. None of the informed sources give any indication of direct or indirect involvement of the United States.

This article was written by Peter Kross and originally published in the October 2004 issue of Vietnam Magazine.

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