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I recently brought this up in another thread. I know of three attempts or plots against Diem before the November 1963 coup. One took place on November 11th, 1960 and was very similar in tone to the eventual 1963 coup, but fell apart because the rebels hesitated and negotiated with Diem, which gave him enough time to have friendly soldiers come to Saigon and put down the coup (the rebels didn't cut the phones). Another took place in 1962 when two pilots of the airforce planned to kill Diem and his brother by strafing and bombing the presidential palace. That also failed. And there was supposedly a plot to commit a coup in August of 1963 which felll apart due to mistrust and suspicion amongst the conspirators.

Three attempts that I know of (1960, 1962, earlier 1963), each of which failed. But what if those earlier attempts had proved successful; what if the 1960 coup succeeded, or Diem and Nhu were killed in 1962 by those two pilots, or a coup had proceeded earlier in 1963?
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