The reaction to the 1963 South Vietnamese coup that saw the arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm was mixed.
Communist reaction The coup was immediately denounced by the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, asserting that the coup had brought a United States "puppet" government. The remainders of the world expressed the general hope that the junta would end persecution against Buddhists and focus on defeating the communist insurgency.Jones, p. 419.
Both North Vietnam and the Viet Cong were caught off guard by the events in Saigon. Radio Hanoi reported the events without a political comment, as they had not prepared a reaction to it. On one hand, the communist leaders were disheartened that they could no longer exploit Diệm's unpopularity. On the other hand, they were confident that Diệm's successors would be weak and fall apart easily, which would facilitate a communist revolution. The official newspaper, Nhan Dan, wrote "By throwing off Ngô Đình Diệm and his brother Ngô Đình Nhu, the US imperialists have themselves destroyed the political bases they had built up for years. The deaths of Diệm and Nhu were followed by the disintegration of big fragments of the ... [government] machine."
On the night of 1 November as Gia Long Palace was besieged, Vietcong radio in South Vietnam had urged the Vietnamese people, the National Liberation Front and ARVN loyalists to resist the coup. However, the generals' successful coup prevented any joint action. Within a week of the coup, the Viet Cong had regained its direction and launched more than one thousand attacks. A communist spokesperson expressed shock that the Americans had appeared to support the removal of Diệm, believing him to have been one of their strongest opponents. The leader of the Viet Cong, Nguyen Huu Tho, termed the coup as a "gift from Heaven for us."Jones, pp. 419-20. Some Viet Cong officials were so surprised the Americans would support Diệm's removal that they initially thought it was a trick. They felt that Diệm's removal was a blunder on the part of the Americans. Thơ said "Our enemy has been seriously weakened from all points of view, military, political and administrative. The special shock troops which were an essential support for the Diệm regime have been eliminated. The military command has been turned upside down and weakened by purges."Hammer, p. 309. He added: For the same reasons, the coercive apparatus, set up over the years with great care by Diệm, is utterly shattered, specially at the base. The principle chiefs of security and the secret police, on which mainly depended the protection of the regime and the repression of the revolutionary movement, have been eliminated, purges.
Troops, officers, and officials of the army and administration are completely lost; they have no more confidence in their chiefs and have no idea to whom they should be loyal.
From the political point of view the weakening of our adversary is still clear. Reactionary political organizations like the Labor and Personalism Party, the National Revolutionary Movement, the Republican Youth, the Women's Solidarity Movement etc ... which constituted an appreciable support for the Regime have been dissolved, eliminated.Hammer, p. 310.
Military reaction Even before the start of the coup, the coup committee through General Lê Văn Kim had been in contact with civilian opposition figures and to some extent with members of Diệm's regime. Once the success of the coup was confirmed, negotiations by the generals' committee with the dissidents began in earnest. On the night of 1 November and the following day, all of Diệm's ministers were told to submit their resignations and did so. No reprisals were taken against them. Vice President Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ entered into intensive bargaining with Minh on 2 November on the composition of the interim government. Tho was aware of the desire of the generals to have him head a new government to provide continuity, and he used this knowledge to bargain with them about the makeup of the cabinet. He had no intention of being their puppet.
While these conferences were taking place, the Military Revolutionary Council as it called itself, distributed leaflets and press releases proclaiming the dissolution of the National Assembly and the abolition of the Diệm-Nhu government based on the constitution of 1956. The Council proclaimed its support for democratic principles such as free elections, unhindered political opposition, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and an end to discrimination. They strongly emphasized that the purpose of the coup was to bolster the fight against the Vietcong which they pledged to pursue with renewed vigor and determination. They condemned the recent legislative elections as "dishonest and fraudulent" and imposed martial law, announced a curfew and ordered the release of all jailed monks and students. The MRC announced that they intended to rewrite the constitution and that they would establish "Democracy and liberty". In the interim, an appointed body known as the "Council of Notables" would replace the legislature in an advisory capacity. Senior American officers expressed optimism about the new junta: "They're putting some young tigers in command, and they could make an all-out effort to finish off the Vietcong". Robert Thompson told Henry Cabot Lodge, US Ambassador to South Vietnam, that "the coup should help very much to win the war".Jones, p. 424.
United States reaction The US State Department reacted to the coup in terms of the recognition of the new government. Secretary of State Dean Rusk felt that a delay in recognition of the junta would help the generals to appear independent from the Americans. It was also thought that such a stance would allow the United States not to appear complicit. Rusk discouraged the generals from visiting Lodge in large groups to minimize the appearance that they were reporting to him as their superior.
A subsequent State Department message stressed the need to publicly emphasize the fact that the coup was an expression of national will by citing the near unanimous support of key military and civilian leaders. The message further stressed the importance of Vice President Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ in a quick return to constitutional rule and the need, therefore, for the junta to include him in an interim regime. Lodge replied affirmatively, indicating the United States should encourage other friendly countries to publicly recognize the new junta first with the assurance that the US would follow suit shortly thereafter. The United States would then resume the Commercial Import Program (CIP) that had been suspended in the meantime. Lodge advised the CIP be resumed quietly to avoid the appearance that it was a payoff for the coup.
On the afternoon of 3 November, two days after the coup, Đôn and Kim visited Lodge at the US Embassy in Saigon, explaining that Minh was busy in conversations with Thơ on the new government. The conversation was lengthy and covered many topics. It began with mutual expressions of satisfaction at the success of the coup, and continued with Lodge's assurance of forthcoming American recognition for their new government. The generals explained that they had decided on a two tier government structure with a military committee overseen by Minh presiding over a regular cabinet that would be predominantly civilian with Tho as Prime Minister. Lodge promised to attend to the immediate restoration of some aid programs and the speedy resumption of the others when the government was in place. They then discussed a series of immediate problems including the return of the Nhu children to Madame Nhu, the disposition of the rest of the Ngô family, press censorship, and the release of Thích Trí Quang from the Embassy.
Announcement of the new junta The new government was announced on the morning of 5 November. Minh was named president and Chief of the Military Committee; Tho was listed as Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, and Minister of Finance; Đôn was named Minister of Defense; and General Định was named to the Ministry of Security (Interior). Only one other general was included in the cabinet of fifteen, which was dominated by bureaucrats and civilians with no previous experience. Political figures, opposed to Diệm or not, were conspicuously absent from the cabinet. The announcement of the new cabinet was followed by the release of Provisional Constitutional Act No. 1, signed by Minh, formally suspending the 1956 constitution and detailing the structure and duty of the interim government. On 6 November, Saigon radio announced the composition of the Executive Committee of the Military Revolutionary Council. Minh was Chairman, Định and Đôn were deputy chairmen, and nine other senior generals, including Kim, Khiêm, Minh, Thiệu, and Phạm Xuân Chiểu were members. A notable omission was the II Corps commander, General Nguyễn Khánh, who had been transferred to the I Corps, the northernmost Corps and the furthest away from Saigon.
On 5 November, South Vietnam's new Foreign Minister sent a message to the Embassy officially informing Lodge of the change of government, and expressing the hope that relations between the two countries would continue and be strengthened. The State Department approved Lodge's proposed reply of recognition the following day, and under the pressure of other governments and the media, announced its intention to recognize the junta on 7 November in Washington. The recognition was delivered on 8 November, when Lodge called on the new Foreign Minister, Lắm, who, claiming to be insufficient for the job he had been given, asked for Lodge's advice. The main impression reported to Washington was that the new government would be heavily dependent on US advice and support, not only for the counter insurgency, but also in the day to day problems of running the country.
Popular reaction The removal from power of the Ngô family was greeted with widespread joy by the public of South Vietnam. Large and spontaneous street demonstrations occurred and the offices of the Times of Vietnam, the propaganda mouthpiece of Nhu and his wife, were burned. Young men wielding acetylene torches cut off the feet of the statues of the Trưng Sisters before the statues were hauled down with a cable around their necks. The Trưng Sisters were a 3rd-century AD pair who are venerated in Vietnam for their role in driving Chinese occupiers from the country, but Madame Nhu had modeled their features on her own as she fancied herself as a modern-day reincarnation. Elsewhere, crowds smashed windows and pulled down government flags from buildings and ransacked any building associated with Nhu. The tension released by the downfall of the regime sparked off celebrations rivaled only by Tết New Year celebrations.