Who began plotting a coup to overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem?

1 Answer
Jul 6, 2016

The CIA and South Vietnamese Armed Forces.

Explanation:

Diem had proved a wholly incompetent and corrupt leader of South Vietnam. He had failed to carry out commitments made at Geneva in 1954 to hold elections in the South. Mounting opposition had led to greater conflict and success for the Vietcong.

In 1963 Diem and his brother was assassinated by the South Vietnamese army and replaced by a military government. The coup was supported by the CIA and American government. The assassination happened within days of Kennedy's assassination in Dallas and there is speculation that the two were linked. Diem's widow Madam Nhu made such an assertion.