page_title: Trần Thiện Khiêm
section_title: 1960 defence of Diêm against coup
hierarchical_section_title: Trần Thiện Khiêm / 1960 defence of Diêm against coup
caption_attribution_description: Cropped image showing South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem ARC Identifier: 542189 Item from Record Group 342: Records of U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities, and Organizations, 1900 - 2000 Part of Series: Black and White Photographs of U.S. Air Force and Predecessors' Activities, Facilities, and Personnel, Domestic and Foreign, 1930 - 1975
context_page_description: General Trần Thiện Khiêm was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He was born in Saigon, Cochinchina, French Indochina. During the 1960s he was involved in several coups. He helped President Ngô Đình Diệm put down a November 1960 coup attempt and was rewarded with promotion. In 1963 he was involved in the coup that deposed and assassinated Diêm.
  He later joined with Nguyễn Khánh to stage a successful January 1964 coup. In the next few months, the Catholic Khiêm fell out with Khánh, whom he accused of being too heavily influenced by Buddhist activists. Khiêm tried to plot against Khánh, but was thwarted. He was implicated in the organization of the September 1964 coup attempt by Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức, both also Catholics, and was sent into exile to serve as Ambassador to the United States. In February 1965, Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, who had accompanied him to Washington had returned to Saigon and launched a coup with Phát. This was done with Khiêm's support. The coup failed but other officers took the opportunity to force Khánh into exile.
context_section_description: On 11 November 1960, Colonels Vương Văn Đông and Nguyễn Chánh Thi launched a coup attempt against President Diêm, but after surrounding the palace, they stopped attacking and decided to negotiate a power-sharing agreement. Diêm falsely promised reforms, allowing time for his loyalists to come to the rescue. The rebels had failed to seal the highways into the capital to block loyalist reinforcements.
  Khiêm was a Roman Catholic with ties to Diêm's older brother, Archbishop Thục; Diêm was also Khiêm's godfather. Khiêm brought in tanks from the Second Armored Battalion from Mỹ Tho, a town in the Mekong Delta, south of Saigon. As the false promises of reform were being aired, Khiêm's men approached the palace grounds. Some of the rebels switched sides as the power balance changed. After a brief but violent battle that killed around 400 people, the coup attempt was crushed. Khiêm was made a brigadier general after serving as the head of the 21st Division, and was appointed Chief of Staff of the combined armed forces and made a major general in December 1962.
caption: Khiêm was a loyalist of President Diêm.
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