During this time, Diệm's sister-in-law, Madame Nhu, a Catholic convert and former Buddhist, the de facto first lady because of Diệm ’ s unmarried status, inflamed the situation by mockingly applauding the suicides, referring to them as “ barbecues ”, stating, “ If the Buddhists want to have another barbecue, I will be glad to supply the gasoline .” The pagoda raids stoked widespread public disquiet in Saigon.

Thơ's acquiescence to and corruption under Diệm's presidency was also called into question, and he was accused of helping to repress the Buddhists by Diệm and Nhu.

There were persistent reports that Nhu was seeking to usurp real power from Diệm and would attack the Buddhists.

Her parents resigned their posts in 1963, in protest over the treatment of Buddhists under the regime of President Diệm and disowned their daughter.

Through her paramilitary organization, Madame Nhu claimed that the Buddhists were " controlled by communism " and that they were manipulated by the Americans, calling on Diệm to " expel all foreign agitators whether they wear monks ' robes or not ".

Thích Quảng Đức was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration.

A number of Buddhist monks ( including the most famous case of Thích Quảng Đức ) immolated themselves in protest of the discriminatory treatment endured by Buddhists under the Roman Catholic administration of President Ngô Đình Diệm in South Vietnam — even though violence against oneself is prohibited by most interpretations of Buddhist doctrine.

Monument to Thích Quảng Đức, who burned himself to death in 1963 in protest against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration

Diệm once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that the man was from a Buddhist background, “ Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places.

The Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country, and the “ private ” status that was imposed on Buddhism by the French, which required official permission to conduct public Buddhist activities, was never repealed by Diệm.

Upon learning of Diệm's ouster and assassination, Hồ Chí Minh reportedly stated: “ I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid .” The North Vietnamese Politburo was more explicit :“ The consequences of the 1 November coup d ' état will be contrary to the calculations of the U. S. imperialists ... Diệm was one of the strongest individuals resisting the people and Communism.

Diệm once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that he was a Buddhist, “ Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places.

Diệm involved himself in anti-communist activities for the first time, printing his own pamphlets.

Diệm continued to attempt to gather support for himself on an anti-Việt Minh platform.

Diệm co-founded the Vietnam National Alliance, which called for France to grant Vietnam dominion status similar to the Commonwealth of Nations.

Diệm applied for permission to travel to Rome for the Holy Year celebrations at the Vatican.

It was an opportune time for Diệm, with the outbreak of the Korean War and McCarthyism helping to make Vietnamese anti-communists a sought after commodity in America.

Diệm toured the East Coast, speaking at universities, arguing that Vietnam could only be saved for the " free world " if the US sponsored a government of nationalists who were opposed to both the Việt Minh and the French.

MSU was administering government-sponsored assistance programs for cold war allies, and Diệm helped Fishel to lay the foundation for a program later implemented in South Vietnam, the Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group.

After coming under pressure from within the country and the United States, Diệm agreed to hold legislative elections in August 1959 for South Vietnam.

He approached Diệm and fired a pistol from close range, but missed, hitting the Secretary for Agrarian Reform's left arm.

Diệm and his supporters blamed the Việt Cộng for the deaths and claimed the protesters were responsible for the violence.

The turning point came in June when a Buddhist monk, Quảng Đức, set himself on fire in the middle of a busy Saigon intersection in protest of Diệm ’ s policies ; photos of this event were disseminated around the world, and for many people these pictures came to represent the failure of Diệm's government.

In 1955, Diệm called for a referendum to remove Bảo Đại and establish a republic with Diệm as president.

After subduing the Binh Xuyen organized crime gang in the Battle for Saigon in 1955, and the Hòa Hảo and other militant religious sects in early 1956, Diệm turned his attention to the Viet Cong.

Lê claimed that the Việt Cộng would " rally'all patriotic forces ' to overthrow the Diệm government the South and thus ensure ' conditions for the peaceful reunification of the Fatherland '".

Minh then went to Gia Long Palace, and Minh sent an armored personnel carrier to transport Diệm and Nhu, while the others prepared for the ceremonial and televised handover of power to the junta.

Minh was reported to be mortified when he realised that Diệm and Nhu had escaped in the middle of the night leaving the rebels to fight for an empty building.

Conein asserted that Minh's humiliation by Diệm and Nhu was a major motivation for ordering their executions.

The government was criticised for firing large numbers of district and provincial chiefs directly appointed by Diệm, causing a breakdown in law and order during the abrupt transition of power.

Upon returning to Vietnam, he helped his brother in his quest for political power, and Nhu proved an astute and ruthless tactician and strategist, helping Diệm to gain more leverage and outwit rivals.

Nhu's real objective was to gain publicity for Diệm, especially while Bảo Đại was overseas and unable to respond effectively.

Diệm said that he contemplated resigning but encouragement from the populace convinced him to persist.

Fishel was a proponent of the anti-colonial, anti-communist third force doctrine in Asia and was impressed with Diệm and helped him organise contacts and meetings in the United States to enlist support.

Diệm arrived at Tân Sơn Nhất airport in Saigon on 26 June where only a few hundred people turned out to greet him, mainly Catholics.

Diệm's position at the time was weak ; Bảo Đại disliked Diệm and appointed him mainly to political imperatives.

Its officers were installed by the French and the chief of staff General Nguyễn Văn Hinh was a French citizen ; Hinh loathed Diệm and frequently disobeyed him.

Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm ousted him in a fraudulent referendum vote in 1955.

This made him popular with the people and Diệm, but the latter later put him in a powerless position, regarding him as a threat.

When Minh arrived at a military parade in his jeep before the reviewing stand after the victories, Diệm embraced him and kissed both cheeks.

Diệm held Thơ in contempt and did not allow him to take part in policy decisions.

Diệm had little success in the late 1940s and went into exile in 1950 to campaign from abroad after the communists sentenced him to death in absentia.

Still in a rage, he turned to Diệm, took out his revolver and shot him in the head.

In 1971, Minh claimed that Thiệu had caused the deaths by hesitating and delaying the attack on Gia Long Palace, implying that if Diệm was captured there, junior officers could not have killed him while in a small group.

When she heard that Diệm was to sign a statement offering compensation to the families of Buddhist protesters shot dead by the police of his brother Ngô Đình Cẩn, she was reported to have thrown a bowl of soup at him.

" After these comments, the U. S. ambassador, Frederick Nolting, told Diệm that if he did not denounce his sister-in-law's comment in public, the Americans would have to stop supporting him, but he refused to do so, and assailed the monks.

In 1960, President Ngô Đình Diệm named him Inspector General the National Defense, a post he held until 1963.

General Cao, a Catholic and former Diệm loyalist, claimed in a 1972 newspaper interview that Khiêm, by then prime minister, had asked him to join the coup.