Editing Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (section)

==Junta member==
Thiệu was rewarded with membership in the 12-man Military Revolutionary Council led by Minh, and served as the secretary general;<ref name=tel/> the leading figures in the MRC were Generals Minh, Trần Văn Đôn, [[Lê Văn Kim]] and Tôn Thất Đính.<ref name=kh182>Kahin, p. 182.</ref>

In January 1964, III Corps' senior adviser, Colonel Wilbur Wilson recommended that the junta remove Thieu from command of the 5th Division. In Wilson's opinion, Thiệu focused too much on politics to the detriment of his duties. The junta did nothing, but junta leader General [[Nguyễn Khánh]] sent Thieu to the [[Joint General Staff]] not as a punishment, but as a reward for his support. On 1 February, Khánh named a new 5th division commander, Colonel (soon to be Brigadier general) Dang Thanh Liem.<ref>{{cite book|last=Birtle|first=Andrew|title=Advice and Support: The Middle Years, January 1964–June 1965|publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army|year=2024|url=https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog-Sub/Publications-By-Title/Advice-and-Support-The-Middle-Years/|isbn=9781959302056|page=143}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

{{main|September 1964 South Vietnamese coup attempt}}
In August 1964, the current junta head, Khánh, who had deposed Minh and his colleagues in January or at least heavily weakened him – as he had to formally retain Minh in recognition of the United States' will – decided to increase his authority by declaring a state of emergency, increasing police powers, banning protests, tightening censorship and allowing the police arbitrary search and imprisonment powers.<ref name=mo757>Moyar (2004), p. 757.</ref> He drafted a new constitution,<ref name=mc762>McAllister, p. 762.</ref> which would have augmented his personal power. However, these moves served only to weaken Khánh as large demonstrations and riots broke out in the cities, with majority Buddhists prominent, calling for an end to the state of emergency and the abandonment of the new constitution, as well as a progression back to civilian rule.<ref name=mo757/>
[[File:South Vietnamese Armed Forces Day (19 June 1966) – CC35204 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Thiệu (left, first row) and [[Nguyễn Cao Kỳ]] (right) in national arm forces day (19 June 1966).]]

Fearing that he could be toppled by the intensifying protests, Khánh made concessions,<ref name=mo761>Moyar (2004), p. 761.</ref> repealing the new constitution and police measures, and promising to reinstate civilian rule and remove the [[Cần Lao Party|Cần Lao]], a Catholic political apparatus covertly used to maintain the Diệm regime in power by seeking out dissenters, etc.<ref name=mo761/> Many senior officers, in particular the Catholics, such as Khiêm and Thiệu, decried what they viewed as a handing of power to the Buddhist leaders,<ref>Moyar (2004), pp. 762–63.</ref> They then tried to remove Khánh in favour of Minh again, and recruited many officers into their plot. Khiêm and Thiệu sought out US Ambassador [[Maxwell Taylor]] for a private endorsement for a coup, but, as this would have been the third coup in a few months, Taylor did not want any more changes in leadership, fearing a corrosive effect on the already unstable government. This deterred Khiêm's group from following through on their plans.<ref name=mo763>Moyar (2004), p. 763.</ref>

The division among the generals came to a head at a meeting of the MRC on 26/27 August. Khánh claimed the instability was due to troublemaking by members and supporters of the Catholic-aligned [[Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam]].<ref name=m318/> Prominent officers associated with the Đại Việt included Thiệu and Khiêm.<ref>Kahin, pp. 229–30.</ref> Khiêm blamed Khánh's concessions to Buddhist activists as the reason for the trouble.<ref name=m318>Moyar (2006), p. 318.</ref> Thiệu and another Catholic General, [[Nguyễn Hữu Có]], called for the replacement of Khánh with the original junta leader Minh, but the latter refused.<ref name=m318/> Feeling pressured by the strong condemnations of his colleagues, Khánh said that he would resign. However, after further deadlock, Khánh, Minh, and Khiêm were put together in a triumvirate to resolve the problem, but tensions remained as Khánh dominated the decision-making.<ref name=mo763/>

On 15 September 1964, Thiệu became the commander of [[IV Corps (South Vietnam)|IV Corps]], which oversaw the [[Mekong Delta]] region of the country, and three divisions.<ref name=ob/> This came after the Buddhists had lobbied Khánh to remove General [[Dương Văn Đức]] from command of IV Corps;<ref name=moyar>Moyar (2006), pp. 326–27.</ref> Đức had responded with a failed coup attempt, along with [[Lâm Văn Phát]], on 13 September.<ref name=m326>Moyar (2006), p. 326.</ref> During the coup attempt, Khiêm and Thiệu's torpor, combined with their criticism of Khánh was seen as tacit support of the rebels.<ref name=kh231>Kahin, p. 231.</ref><ref>Moyar (2006), pp. 316–19.</ref> US Embassy logs during the coup claimed that Thiệu and Khiêm "seem so passive that they appear to have been either tacitly supporting or associated with his move by Đức and Phát".<ref name=kh498/> However, after the coup faltered, the pair "issued expressions of firm support for Khánh somewhat belatedly".<ref name=kh498>Kahin, p. 498.</ref>

{{main|December 1964 South Vietnamese coup}}
Thiệu was part of a group of younger officers called the Young Turks—the most prominent apart from himself included commander of the [[Republic of Vietnam Air Force]], Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, commander of [[I Corps (South Vietnam)|I Corps]] General Nguyễn Chánh Thi and Admiral [[Chung Tấn Cang]], the head of the [[Republic of Vietnam Navy]]. They and Khánh wanted to forcibly retire officers with more than 25 years of service, as they thought them to be lethargic, out of touch, and ineffective, but most importantly, as rivals for power. Specific targets of this proposed policy were Generals Minh, Trần Văn Đôn, Lê Văn Kim and [[Mai Hữu Xuân]].<ref name=mo769/>

The signature of Chief of State [[Phan Khắc Sửu]] was required to pass the ruling, but he referred the matter to the High National Council (HNC), an appointed civilian advisory body, to get their opinion.<ref name=versus>{{cite magazine|title=South Viet Nam: The U.S. v. the Generals|date=1 January 1965|magazine=[[TIME|Time]]}}</ref> The HNC turned down the request. This was speculated to be due to the fact that many of the HNC members were old, and did not appreciate the generals' negativity towards seniors.<ref name=m344>Moyar (2006), p. 344.</ref> On 19 December, the generals dissolved the HNC and arrested some of the members as well as other civilian politicians.<ref name=mo769>Moyar (2004), p. 769.</ref> This prompted Ambassador Taylor to angrily berate Thiệu, Thi, Kỳ and Cang in a private meeting and threaten to cut off aid if they did not reverse their decision. However, this galvanized the officers around Khánh for a time and they ignored Taylor's threats without repercussions as the Americans were too intent on defeating the communists to cut funding.<ref>Karnow, pp. 398–99.</ref>

{{main|1965 South Vietnamese coup}}
Thiệu was again plotting the following month when the junta-appointed Prime Minister, [[Trần Văn Hương]], introduced a series of war expansion measures, notably by widening the terms of conscription. This provoked widespread anti-Hương demonstrations and riots across the country, mainly from conscription-aged students and pro-negotiations Buddhists.<ref name=hfkh>Kahin, pp. 267–69.</ref> Reliant on Buddhist support, Khánh did little to try to contain the protests,<ref name=hfkh/><ref>Moyar (2004), pp. 774–75.</ref> and then decided to have the armed forces take over the government, and he removed Hương on 27 January.<ref name=hfkh/><ref name=mo775>Moyar (2006), p. 775.</ref>

Khánh's action nullified a counter-plot involving Hương that had developed during the civil disorders that forced him from office. In an attempt to pre-empt his deposal, Hương had backed a plot led by some Đại Việt-oriented Catholic officers, including Thiệu and Có, who planned to remove Khánh and bring Khiêm back from Washington. The US Embassy in Saigon was privately supportive of the aim as Taylor and Khánh had become implacable enemies,<ref name=kh297/> but they did not fully back the move as they regarded it as poorly thought out and potentially a political embarrassment due to the need to use an American plane to transport some plotters between Saigon and Washington, and as a result, they promised asylum only for Hương if necessary.<ref name=kh297>Kahin, p. 297.</ref> The plot continued over the next month with US encouragement, especially when evidence emerged that Khánh wanted to make a deal with the communists.<ref>Kahin, pp. 294–95.</ref> Taylor told the generals that the US was "in no way propping up General Khanh or backing him in any fashion".<ref name=kh298>Kahin, p. 298.</ref> At this stage, Taylor and his staff in Saigon thought highly of Thiệu, Có and Cang as possible replacements for Khánh.<ref name=kh298/> Thiệu was quoted in a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) report as being described by an unnamed American official as "intelligent, highly ambitious, and likely to remain a coup plotter with the aim of personal advancement".<ref name=kh512>Kahin, p. 512.</ref>

Thiệu took a cautious approach, as did Có and Cang, and they were pre-empted by Colonel [[Phạm Ngọc Thảo]], an undetected communist double agent, who launched a coup with Phát on a hardline Catholic platform without US backing.<ref>Kahin, pp. 299–301.</ref> With US support against both Khánh and the plotters, Kỳ and Thi put down the coup attempt and then ousted Khánh. This left Kỳ, Thi and Thiệu as the three most prominent members in the new junta.<ref name=tc>Shaplen, pp. 310–12.</ref><ref name=kh303>Kahin, p. 303.</ref><ref name=l3467>Langguth, pp. 346–47.</ref> There were claims that Thiệu ordered the military to capture and extrajudicially kill Phạm Ngọc Thảo, who died in 1965 after a series of coup attempts between various ARVN officers. Other sources blame Kỳ.<ref name=t61>Tang, p. 61.</ref> During this period, Thiệu became more prominent as other generals fought and defeated one another in coups, which forced several into exile.<ref name=ex/>