ABSTRACT
This chapter provides details of the January 30, 1964 coup by General Nguyễn Khánh: the reasons for the coup, the preparations for the coup, the coup itself, and the outcome of the coup. Taking advantage of the complacency, loose control, and internal division of the MRC, the unhappiness of some ambitious MRC members, e.g. Major-Generals Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, and Nguyễn Hữu Có, Commanders of the 5th and 7th Infantry Divisions successively, together with the US Government’s fear of neutralization, General Khánh was able to recruit people, in particular Lieutenant-General Trần Thiện Khiêm, Commander of the III Corps that encompassed the Capital City of Saigon, for his planned coup. General Khánh planned the coup with his Deputy in I Corps, Colonel Nguyễn Chánh Thi (later moving up to the general officer rank), who helped recruit Colonel Cao Văn Viên, Commander of the Airborne Brigade in Saigon. The coup was bloodless with only one victim: Major Nguyễn Văn Nhung, General Dương Văn Minh’s bodyguard, who had allegedly assassinated the Ngô brothers during the November 1, 1963 coup; Nhung was arrested and incarcerated in Hoàng Hoa Thám Camp, headquarters of the Airborne Brigade, and later found hung himself. During the coup, four important members of the MRC, Lieutenant-Generals Trần Văn Đôn, Mai Hữu Xuân, Lê Văn Kim, and Tôn Thất Đính, were taken into custody, and later put under house arrest in Đà Lạt. General Khánh took control of the MRC with General Dương Văn Minh being kept as a figurehead Chief of State. The Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ government submitted its resignation and General Khánh formed a new government with himself as Prime Minister.
