1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état

In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm and the Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam were deposed by a group of CIA supported 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").[3]

1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état
Part of the Buddhist crisis of the Vietnam War
Date 1–2 November 1963 Location Saigon, South Vietnam Result Coup successful Military Revolutionary Council takes power; political prisoners released Ngô Đình Diệm and Nhu arrested and assassinated, Lê Quang Tung and Hồ Tấn Quyền summarily executed Ngô Đình Cẩn arrested; tried and executed in May 1964 The Republic of Vietnam weakened and becomes increasingly dependent on the United States
Belligerents
ARVN rebels RVNMD rebels RVNAD rebels RVNAF rebels Supported by:  United States CIA	Republic of Vietnam ARVN loyalists Presidential Guard ARVN Special Forces
Commanders and leaders
Trần Văn Đôn Dương Văn Minh Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Lê Văn Kim Tôn Thất Đính Nguyễn Hữu Có Đỗ Mậu Trần Thiện Khiêm Phạm Ngọc Thảo (spy of North Vietnam) Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Lucien Conein Phan Khắc Sửu Trần Văn Hương	Ngô Đình Diệm  Ngô Đình Nhu  Ngô Đình Cẩn  Lê Quang Tung  Hồ Tấn Quyền  Huỳnh Văn Cao
Strength
Two battalions of the 5th Division[1] Two marine battalions Two airborne battalions Miscellaneous trainee units and air force aircraft	~150 men of the Presidential Guard[2] ARVN Special Forces
Casualties and losses
9 dead 46 wounded	4 dead 44 wounded
Civilians: 20 dead, 146 wounded.

The Kennedy administration had been aware of the coup planning,[4] 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[5] 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.[6]

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