alternatehistory.com
Meanwhile in Viet-Nam
U.S. Ambassador to South Viet'Nam, Averell Harriman, was sleeping in his quarters on the morning of November 21, 1963 when he heard the thud of artillery rounds. The aged diplomat opened his eyes and raised his head slightly. He heard more thuds. He slowly raised up. His wife, Mary, didn't seem too concerned.
"Ave...what do you think is going on, darling?"
"Probably some tin pot Colonel didn't receive the Grand Knight Cross of the National Order of Vietnam. So he's launched a coup to make himself President or something. At least things were quieter with the Nhu Brothers," said the Ambassador of the recently deposed and murdered despotic President Diem and his brother, Nhu, his closest advisor, who had been killed a little less than 20 days previously, with the covert support of Harriman and the Kennedy Administration.
"Maybe the Dragon Lady is back to breathe fire," said Mrs. Harriman rolling back over and pulling up the cover around her shoulder in an obvious snarky comment about Nhu's widow who was in exile but had vowed vengeance on the Kennedys and the Harrimans.
"Well my dear, do you wish me to be Saint George to your Margaret the Virgin," said the Ambassador as he padded to the window and lit a cigarette. He stared outside as he drew in breaths of the acrid smoke while staring out towards where the fighting seemed to be coming from. Harriman noticed it was in the direction of the Newport Bridge, (Cầu Tân Cảng), about three miles (five kilometers) from the city center. The Ambassador decided to pad into his office. There he had a secure line and he called Lucien Conein. Harriman knew this French-born C.I.A. agent would know what was going on.
"Bonsoir, monsieur l'ambassadeur. A quel plaisir dois-je cet appel?" said Conein smoothly in his French. Harriman, fluent in a number of languages replied, "Mon cher ami, j'essaie de m'adapter au tonnerre et aux éclairs que ces indigènes asiatiques semblent apprécier." Laughing at the response, Conein switchly just as smoothly into English and stated, "It's General(s) Khánh and Thieu who have decided to remove General(s) Đôn and Minh. Also the ARVN Special Forces is seeking revenge for the executions of General Tung along with his deputy and younger brother, Lê Quang Triệu." The Ambassador knew the Special Forces were specially trained by the United States and asked, "Will they succeed?" Conein replied dryly, "We shall see by tomorrow afternoon, but honestly, we must find a unifying force fast and soon. Or this nation will be the domino that topples the whole of Southeast Asia."
Before dawn on 30 January, Khánh surrounded the military headquarters at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base. Meanwhile, Generals Don and Minh had overslept and were unprepared. Despite this, by daybreak, Khánh had taken over the government without a shot having been fired. In his first radio broadcast on the same morning, Khánh assailed the MRC's performance during its three months at the top. He said, "The political, economic, and social situation in the countryside still offers no promising prospect. There has not been one single compensation worthy of the sacrifices accepted daily by the soldiers."
There were only two fatalities from the coup. General Trần Văn Đôn and Captain Nguyen Van Nhung, under whose care, Diem and his brother had been savagely executed and killed during the previous coup. There was initially confusion as various conflicting reports of Nhung's demise surfaced, one source telling journalists that Nhung lived in a cottage within the grounds of Minh's villa and shot himself outside his house.
Meanwhile, Nhung and Don had been arrested. Khánh enacted retribution against Đôn. Khánh arrested both, claiming that they were part of a neutralist plot with the Việt Cộng and taken to Đà Lạt. The generals were interrogated for five and a half hours, mostly about details of their coup which were already known, rather than the original charge of promoting neutralism. The court deliberated for nine hours, and when it reconvened for the verdict, Khánh stated, "We ask that once you begin to serve again in the army, you do not take revenge on anybody." The tribunal then "congratulated" the generals, but found that they were of "lax morality", unqualified to command, and "lack of a clear political concept".arrested both, claiming that they were part of a neutralist plot with the Việt Cộng and taken to Đà Lạt. The generals were interrogated for five and a half hours, mostly about details of their coup which were already known, rather than the original charge of promoting neutralism. The court deliberated for nine hours, and when it reconvened for the verdict, Khánh stated, "We ask that once you begin to serve again in the army, you do not take revenge on anybody." The tribunal then "congratulated" the generals, but found that they were of "lax morality", unqualified to command, and "lack of a clear political concept".
One of Khánh's men took Đôn to the garden of a Dalat villa and forced him to kneel, before executing him with a single gunshot to the back of the head. Đôn's death led to sporadic protests among the Saigon public, who took the killing to be a signal that the remaining members of Diệm's regime would be reinstated to positions of authority. The generals hated Đôn and Nhung, because, at Ngô Đình Nhu's instructions, Đôn had disguised his men in regular army uniforms and framed the army for the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids several months earlier, in August 1963. Nhung was his and Dương Văn Minh's loyalist lieutenant.
Dương Văn Minh was driven to Tan Son Nhut Airport, placed on an Air Vietnam Boeing 727 and flown off to exile in Hong Kong.
U.S. Ambassador to South Viet'Nam, Averell Harriman, was sleeping in his quarters on the morning of November 21, 1963 when he heard the thud of artillery rounds. The aged diplomat opened his eyes and raised his head slightly. He heard more thuds. He slowly raised up. His wife, Mary, didn't seem too concerned.
"Ave...what do you think is going on, darling?"
"Probably some tin pot Colonel didn't receive the Grand Knight Cross of the National Order of Vietnam. So he's launched a coup to make himself President or something. At least things were quieter with the Nhu Brothers," said the Ambassador of the recently deposed and murdered despotic President Diem and his brother, Nhu, his closest advisor, who had been killed a little less than 20 days previously, with the covert support of Harriman and the Kennedy Administration.
"Maybe the Dragon Lady is back to breathe fire," said Mrs. Harriman rolling back over and pulling up the cover around her shoulder in an obvious snarky comment about Nhu's widow who was in exile but had vowed vengeance on the Kennedys and the Harrimans.
"Well my dear, do you wish me to be Saint George to your Margaret the Virgin," said the Ambassador as he padded to the window and lit a cigarette. He stared outside as he drew in breaths of the acrid smoke while staring out towards where the fighting seemed to be coming from. Harriman noticed it was in the direction of the Newport Bridge, (Cầu Tân Cảng), about three miles (five kilometers) from the city center. The Ambassador decided to pad into his office. There he had a secure line and he called Lucien Conein. Harriman knew this French-born C.I.A. agent would know what was going on.
"Bonsoir, monsieur l'ambassadeur. A quel plaisir dois-je cet appel?" said Conein smoothly in his French. Harriman, fluent in a number of languages replied, "Mon cher ami, j'essaie de m'adapter au tonnerre et aux éclairs que ces indigènes asiatiques semblent apprécier." Laughing at the response, Conein switchly just as smoothly into English and stated, "It's General(s) Khánh and Thieu who have decided to remove General(s) Đôn and Minh. Also the ARVN Special Forces is seeking revenge for the executions of General Tung along with his deputy and younger brother, Lê Quang Triệu." The Ambassador knew the Special Forces were specially trained by the United States and asked, "Will they succeed?" Conein replied dryly, "We shall see by tomorrow afternoon, but honestly, we must find a unifying force fast and soon. Or this nation will be the domino that topples the whole of Southeast Asia."
Before dawn on 30 January, Khánh surrounded the military headquarters at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base. Meanwhile, Generals Don and Minh had overslept and were unprepared. Despite this, by daybreak, Khánh had taken over the government without a shot having been fired. In his first radio broadcast on the same morning, Khánh assailed the MRC's performance during its three months at the top. He said, "The political, economic, and social situation in the countryside still offers no promising prospect. There has not been one single compensation worthy of the sacrifices accepted daily by the soldiers."
There were only two fatalities from the coup. General Trần Văn Đôn and Captain Nguyen Van Nhung, under whose care, Diem and his brother had been savagely executed and killed during the previous coup. There was initially confusion as various conflicting reports of Nhung's demise surfaced, one source telling journalists that Nhung lived in a cottage within the grounds of Minh's villa and shot himself outside his house.
Meanwhile, Nhung and Don had been arrested. Khánh enacted retribution against Đôn. Khánh arrested both, claiming that they were part of a neutralist plot with the Việt Cộng and taken to Đà Lạt. The generals were interrogated for five and a half hours, mostly about details of their coup which were already known, rather than the original charge of promoting neutralism. The court deliberated for nine hours, and when it reconvened for the verdict, Khánh stated, "We ask that once you begin to serve again in the army, you do not take revenge on anybody." The tribunal then "congratulated" the generals, but found that they were of "lax morality", unqualified to command, and "lack of a clear political concept".arrested both, claiming that they were part of a neutralist plot with the Việt Cộng and taken to Đà Lạt. The generals were interrogated for five and a half hours, mostly about details of their coup which were already known, rather than the original charge of promoting neutralism. The court deliberated for nine hours, and when it reconvened for the verdict, Khánh stated, "We ask that once you begin to serve again in the army, you do not take revenge on anybody." The tribunal then "congratulated" the generals, but found that they were of "lax morality", unqualified to command, and "lack of a clear political concept".
One of Khánh's men took Đôn to the garden of a Dalat villa and forced him to kneel, before executing him with a single gunshot to the back of the head. Đôn's death led to sporadic protests among the Saigon public, who took the killing to be a signal that the remaining members of Diệm's regime would be reinstated to positions of authority. The generals hated Đôn and Nhung, because, at Ngô Đình Nhu's instructions, Đôn had disguised his men in regular army uniforms and framed the army for the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids several months earlier, in August 1963. Nhung was his and Dương Văn Minh's loyalist lieutenant.
Dương Văn Minh was driven to Tan Son Nhut Airport, placed on an Air Vietnam Boeing 727 and flown off to exile in Hong Kong.
- DCPritt
- Word Count: 960