January 1964 South Vietnamese coup

1964 South Vietnamese coup
Date January 30, 1964 Location Saigon, South Vietnam Result Bloodless coup successful
Belligerents
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) rebels	Military Revolutionary Council of South Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
Nguyễn Khánh Trần Thiện Khiêm Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Chánh Thi Đỗ Mậu	Dương Văn Minh Trần Văn Đôn Lê Văn Kim Tôn Thất Đính Mai Hữu Xuân
Strength
Part of the III Corps and one paratroop unit	None (caught off guard)
Casualties and losses
Bloodless coup successful Đôn, Kim, Đính and Xuân put under house arrest Nguyễn Văn Nhung, aide and bodyguard of Minh was summarily executed after the coup

Before dawn on January 30, 1964, General Nguyễn Khánh ousted the military junta led by General Dương Văn 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 Ngô Đình Diệm. The coup was bloodless and took less than a few hours—after power had been seized Minh's aide and bodyguard, Major Nguyễn Văn Nhung was arrested and summarily executed.

Distrusted by his colleagues because of his tendency to change sides and his reputation as an intriguer, Khánh was assigned to I Corps in the far north of the country after Diệm's overthrow to keep him away from the capital Saigon. Khánh, who had played a minor role in Diệm's overthrow, joined forces with Generals Trần Thiện Khiêm, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, who felt they deserved better posts in the junta, and Colonels Nguyễn Chánh Thi and Đỗ Mậu, the latter being the director of military security under Diệm and an effective strategist.

During the three months of his rule, Minh, his civilian Prime Minister Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, and his leading military colleagues, Generals Trần Văn Đôn and Lê Văn Kim, attempted to defeat the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) non-militarily. They felt that a battleground victory was impractical or impossible and pursued a strategy of trying to politically integrate the insurgents into the mainstream. This meant an intensification of rural non-military initiatives and a reduction in armed operations. This brought them into conflict with the United States, who had plans to start bombing North Vietnam. At the same time, in January 1964, the French government of President Charles de Gaulle proposed the neutralization of Vietnam and the withdrawal of American forces. Khánh and his fellow plotters exploited this to spread rumors that Minh's junta was about to make a deal with Hanoi and then gained the support of the US, most notably through the chief of military forces in Vietnam, General Paul Harkins, who supported Diệm and opposed Minh's November coup.

Before dawn on January 30, the coup forces caught the junta completely off-guard and seized power without a fight. Khánh grudgingly decided to keep Minh as a figurehead chief of state while maintaining real power in his hands as Minh was popular within the army and the Americans wanted a show of unity to be maintained. Khánh also tried to consolidate his standing in the military by promoting a group of younger officers, and increasing the pay of the enlisted men. In the meantime, the other key generals in the junta, Don, Kim, Đính and Xuân were put under house arrest, accused by Khánh of attempting to negotiate a peace deal with North Vietnam. However, when they were brought to a military trial presided over by Khánh, the junta leader did not provide any evidence and convicted them of "lax morality". Khánh then allowed them back to meaningless desk jobs, but the show trial brought him much embarrassment. Khánh later admitted that there was no basis to the charges of neutralism against the four generals, and after a tumultuous year in power, Khánh was himself deposed in February 1965 and forced into exile.