Editing Dương Văn Minh (section)

===Culpability regarding killings of Diệm and Nhu===
The assassinations caused a split within the junta and repulsed world opinion. The killings damaged the public belief that the new regime would be an improvement over Diệm, throwing the generals into discord. Criticism over the killings caused the officers to battle one another for positions in the new government.<ref name="j436"/> The responsibility for the assassinations has generally been laid at the doorstep of Minh. Conein asserted that ''"I have it on very good authority of very many people, that Big Minh gave the order"'',<ref name="j435"/> as did [[William Colby]], the director of the CIA's Far Eastern division. Đôn, however, was equally emphatic, saying ''"I can state without equivocation that this was done by General Dương Văn Minh and by him alone."''<ref name="j435">Jones, p. 435</ref> Lodge believed Xuân was at least partly culpable, asserting: ''"Diệm and Nhu had been assassinated, if not by Xuan personally, at least at his direction."''<ref name="j436"/> Some months after the event, Minh was reported to have privately told an American official that ''"We had no alternative. They had to be killed. Diệm could not be allowed to live because he was too much respected among simple, gullible people in the countryside, especially the Catholics and the refugees. We had to kill Nhu because he was so widely feared – and he had created organizations that were arms of his personal power."''<ref name="j435"/>

When [[Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]] became president, Minh blamed him for the assassinations. In 1971, Minh claimed that Thiệu had caused the deaths by hesitating and delaying the attack by his [[5th Division (South Vietnam)|5th Division]] on Gia Long Palace. Đôn was reported to have pressured Thiệu during the night of the siege, asking him on the phone "Why are you so slow in doing it? Do you need more troops? If you do, ask [[Tôn Thất Đính|Đính]] to send more troops{{snd}}and do it quickly because after taking the palace you will be made a general."<ref>Hammer, p. 299</ref> Thiệu denied responsibility and issued a statement: ''"Dương Văn Minh has to assume entire responsibility for the death of Ngô Đình Diệm."''<ref name="j435"/>

[[Trần Văn Hương]], an opposition politician who was jailed by Diệm, and a future prime minister and president, gave a scathing analysis of the generals' action. He said ''"The top generals who decided to murder Diệm and his brother were scared to death. The generals knew very well that having no talent, no moral virtues, no political support whatsoever, they could not prevent a spectacular comeback of the president and Mr. Nhu if they were alive."''<ref>Jones, pp. 435–436</ref>

Conein asserted that Minh's humiliation by Diệm and Nhu was a major motivation for ordering their executions. Conein reasoned that the brothers were doomed to death once they escaped from the palace, instead of surrendering and accepting the offer of safe exile. Having successfully stormed the palace, Minh had arrived at the presidential residence in full ceremonial military uniform "with a sedan and everything else". Conein described Minh as a "very proud man" who had lost face by turning up at the palace, ready to claim victory, only to find an empty building. He claimed that Diệm and Nhu would not have been killed if they were in the palace, because there were too many people present.<ref name="j435"/>

American policy makers later came to believe that the coup and the murders of Diệm and his brother more deeply entrenched the United States in the war, by increasing its responsibility for what had occurred after the deposing of Diệm's administration.<ref name="nyt" />

In the view of [[Stanley Karnow]]<nowiki>, a former journalist in Saigon for The Saturday Evening Post, ''Minh was not the main mover. But as the senior general, he was the man who crystallized the various factions who were all plotting against Diệm. Everybody and his brother had a plot.''</nowiki><ref name="nyt" />