Ton That Dinh - Defection and Coup

Defection and Coup

Embarrassed by the events at the press conference, Đính returned to the officers' mess at the Joint General Staff headquarters. His colleagues, led by General Trần Văn Đôn, were plotting a coup against Diệm because of the Buddhist crisis, and attempted to play on Đính's ego to convince him to join them. They knew that without Đính's assistance, a coup would be difficult as his forces dominated the region surrounding the capital. In a series of meetings, the other generals assured Đính that he was a national hero worthy of political authority, and claimed that Nhu had not realised how important he was in the future of the country. Đính's colleagues even bribed his soothsayer to predict his elevation to political power. The other generals told him that the people were dissatisfied with Diệm's cabinet and that Vietnam needed dynamic young officers in politics, and that their presence would reverse the declining morale in the ARVN. They advised Đính to ask Diệm to promote him to Interior Minister, Dương Văn Minh to Defence Minister, and Trần Văn Minh to Education Minister. The other generals hoped that would reject Đính and wound his pride. As a result, Đính and his fellow generals met Diệm at the palace, where Đính asked the president to promote him to the post of Interior Minister. Diệm bluntly chastised Đính in front of his colleagues, and ordered him out of Saigon to the central highlands resort town of Đà Lạt to rest. Đính felt humiliated and embarrassed, having promised his colleagues that he would be successful. The Ngô brothers had been alarmed by Đính's request, and put him under surveillance. Đính found out, further straining his relationship with the palace. Đính agreed to join the coup, although with his ambitious nature, the other officers were skeptical and planned to have him assassinated if he tried to switch sides.

With Đính and the Ngô family's increasing focus on the political usage of the army, the military situation in the III Corps deteriorated badly in the second half of 1963, as personnel were redeployed into the cities. In August, he moved a unit away from Bến Tượng, which had been portrayed as a model settlement in the Strategic Hamlet Program that was supposed to isolate peasants into fortified villages to keep the Vietcong out. While the unit was in Saigon cracking down on the Buddhists, the communists overran Bến Tượng. A year earlier, the American media contingent had been invited to the opening ceremony of the settlement, which was supposed to be the flagship of the hamlet program. As Đính spent most of October in the capital plotting instead of inspecting the countryside, the communists began to systematically dismantle the strategic hamlets.