Page "Ngo Dinh Diem" Paragraph 37

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the American ambassador to South Vietnam, refused to meet with Diệm.

Upon hearing that a coup d ' état was being designed by ARVN generals led by General Dương Văn Minh, and supported by the CIA, Lodge gave secret assurances to the generals that the U. S. would not interfere.

Lucien Conein, a CIA operative, had become a liaison between the US Embassy and the generals, who were led by Trần Văn Đôn.

Conein provided a group of South Vietnamese generals with US $ 40, 000 to carry out the coup with the promise that U. S. forces would make no attempt to protect Diệm.

Minh and his co-conspirators overthrew the government on 1 November 1963 in a swift coup.

On 1 November, with only the palace guard remaining to defend Diệm and his younger brother, Nhu, the generals called the palace offering Diệm exile if he surrendered.