Editing Ngo Dinh Diem (section)

==Coup and assassination==
{{Main|Cable 243|1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état|Arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm}}
{{Anchor|Coup and assassination}}As the Buddhist crisis deepened in July 1963, non-communist Vietnamese nationalists and the military began preparations for a coup. [[Bùi Diễm]], later South Vietnam's Ambassador to the United States, reported in his memoirs that General [[Lê Văn Kim]] requested his aid in learning what the United States might do about Diệm's government.{{sfn|Bùi Diễm|Chanoff|1999|p=100}} Diễm had contacts in both the embassy and with the high-profile American journalists then in South Vietnam, [[David Halberstam]] (''New York Times''), [[Neil Sheehan]] (United Press International), and [[Malcolm Browne]] (Associated Press).{{sfn|Bùi Diễm|Chanoff|1999|p=101}}
 
The coup d'état was designed by a military revolutionary council including ARVN generals led by General [[Dương Văn Minh]]. Lieutenant Colonel [[Lucien Conein]], a CIA officer, had become a liaison between the US Embassy and the generals, who were led by Trần Văn Đôn, and they met each other for the first time on 2 October 1963, at Tân Sơn Nhất airport. Three days later, Conein met with General Dương Văn Minh to discuss the coup and the stance of the US towards it.<ref name="Miller, p.312">{{harvnb|Miller|2013|p=312}}</ref> Conein then delivered the White House's message of American non-intervention, which was reiterated by Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., the U.S. ambassador, who gave secret assurances to the generals that the United States would not interfere.{{sfn|Jacobs|2006|p=2}}
 
The coup was chiefly planned by the Vietnamese generals.<ref name="Miller, p.312"/> Unlike the coup in 1960, the plotters of the 1963 coup knew how to gain broad support from other ARVN officer corps. They obtained the support of Generals [[Tôn Thất Đính]], [[Đỗ Cao Trí]], and [[Nguyễn Khánh]] of the III, II, and I Corps respectively. However, commander of the IV Corps [[Huỳnh Văn Cao]] remained loyal to Diệm.{{sfn|Miller|2013|p=320}}
 
On 1 November 1963, Conein donned his military uniform and stuffed three million Vietnamese [[piastre]]s into a bag to be given to General Minh. Conein then called the CIA station and gave a signal indicating that the planned coup against Diệm was about to start.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Annie |title=Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins|date=2019 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |isbn=978-0-316-44143-8 |edition=1 |location=New York|p=148}}</ref> Minh and his co-conspirators swiftly overthrew the government.
 
[[File:Corpse of Ngô Đình Diệm in the 1963 coup.jpg|alt=Ngô Đình Diệm after being shot and killed in the 1963 coup|thumb|Ngô Đình Diệm after being shot and killed in the 1963 coup]]
With only the palace guard remaining to defend Diệm and his younger brother Nhu, the generals called the palace offering Diệm exile if he surrendered. That evening, however, Diệm and his entourage escaped via an underground passage to Cha Tam Catholic Church in [[Chợ Lớn, Ho Chi Minh City|Cholon]], where they were captured the following morning. On 2 November 1963, the brothers were assassinated together in the back of an [[M113 armored personnel carrier]] with a [[bayonet]] and [[revolver]] by Captain [[Nguyễn Văn Nhung]], under orders from Minh{{sfn|Bùi Diễm|Chanoff|1999|p=105}} {{citation needed span|text=given while en route to the Vietnamese Joint General Staff headquarters|date=December 2023}}. Diệm was buried in an [[unmarked grave]] in [[Mạc Đĩnh Chi Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/03/archives/2000-mourn-diem-at-saigon-grave-better-times-recalled-on-7th.html | title=2,000 Mourn Diem at Saigon Grave  | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=3 November 1970| url-access=limited}}</ref> In 1983 the Vietnamese government closed the cemetery, and ordered all remains to be exhumed and removed. Diệm and his brother were reburied in {{ill|v=ib|Lái Thiêu Cemetery|vi|Nghĩa trang Lái Thiêu}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucanews.com/news/despite-intimidation-south-vietnams-diem-remembered/80696|work=[[Union of Catholic Asian News]]|title=Despite intimidation, South Vietnam's Diem remembered|date=3 November 2017|access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://vnn.vietnamnet.vn/psks/2005/08/480325/|title=Kể chuyện dời mộ ở Sài Gòn nhân Lễ Vu Lan|language=vi|trans-title=Telling the story of moving the grave in Saigon on the occasion of Vu Lan Festival|work=[[VietNamNet]]|date=18 August 2005|access-date=1 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414175458/http://vnn.vietnamnet.vn/psks/2005/08/480325/|archive-date=14 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>