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Before dawn on January 30, 1964, General Nguyễn Khánh ousted the military junta led by General Dương Văn Minh from the leadership of South Vietnam without firing a shot. It came less than three months after Minh's junta had themselves come to power in a bloody coup against then President Ngô Đình Diệm. The coup was bloodless and took less than a few hours—after power had been seized Minh's aide and bodyguard, Major Nguyễn Văn Nhung was arrested and summarily executed. Distrusted by his colleagues because of his tendency to change sides and his reputation as an intriguer, Khánh was assigned to I Corps in the far north of the country after Diệm's overthrow to keep him away from the capital Saigon. Khánh, who had played a minor role in Diệm's overthrow, joined forces with Generals Trần Thiện Khiêm, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, who felt they deserved better posts in the junta, and Colonels Nguyễn Chánh Thi and Đỗ Mậu, the latter being the director of military security under Diệm and an effective strategist. During the three months of his rule, Minh, his civilian Prime Minister Nguyen Ngoc Tho, and his leading military colleagues, Generals Trần Văn Đôn and Lê Văn Kim, attempted to defeat the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) non-militarily. They felt that a battleground victory was impractical or impossible and pursued a strategy of trying to politically integrate the insurgents into the mainstream. This meant an intensification of rural non-military initiatives and a reduction in armed operations. This brought them into conflict with the United States, who had plans to start bombing North Vietnam. At the same time, in January 1964, the French government of President Charles de Gaulle proposed the neutralization of Vietnam and the withdrawal of American forces. Khánh and his fellow plotters exploited this to spread rumors that Minh's junta was about to make a deal with Hanoi and then gained the support of the US, most notably through the chief of military forces in Vietnam, General Paul Harkins, who supported Diệm and opposed Minh's November coup. Before dawn on January 30, the coup forces caught the junta completely off-guard and seized power without a fight. Khánh grudgingly decided to keep Minh as a figurehead chief of state while maintaining real power in his hands as Minh was popular within the army and the Americans wanted a show of unity to be maintained. Khánh also tried to consolidate his standing in the military by promoting a group of younger officers, and increasing the pay of the enlisted men. In the meantime, the other key generals in the junta, Don, Kim, Dinh and Xuan were put under house arrest, accused by Khánh of attempting to negotiate a peace deal with North Vietnam. However, when they were brought to a military trial presided over by Khánh, the junta leader did not provide any evidence and convicted them of "lax morality". Khánh then allowed them back to meaningless desk jobs, but the show trial brought him much embarrassment. Khánh later admitted that there was no basis to the charges of neutralism against the four generals, and after a tumultuous year in power, Khánh was himself deposed in February 1965 and forced into exile. == Background == Khánh had long been regarded as an ambitious and unscrupulous officer.〔 Following the partition of Vietnam, Khánh, a French-trained officer who served in the French-backed Vietnamese National Army during the First Indochina War, had rallied to support Ngô Đình Diệm, who became the first president of the anti-communist South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam). He rose to become the deputy chief of staff in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), but his record of political loyalty was called into question. In 1960, during an attempted coup by rebel paratroopers, Khánh jumped over the walls of the Independence Palace and joined Diệm during the siege, trying to negotiate an end to the stand-off with the rebels.〔Moyar, pp. 108–114.〕 Khánh parleyed with the rebels long enough for loyal forces to arrive from the outside the capital to suppress the uprising, but his critics contended that he was waiting to see which side would gain the upper hand and was not committed to Diệm.〔Karnow, pp. 351–352.〕〔Shaplen, p. 229.〕 In any case, Diệm then promoted him to be the commander of II Corps.〔Kahin, p. 196.〕 In his younger days, Khánh had joined the Viet Minh but then defected to the French colonial army after a year. Khánh claimed that he had left the Viet Minh because of its communist inclinations, but critics claimed that he was simply switching sides because the French-backed State of Vietnam offered him more opportunities for advancement.〔Karnow, pp. 354–355.〕〔Shaplen, p. 228.〕 Khánh participated in the 1963 South Vietnamese coup that deposed Diệm, playing a minor role, although he claimed to be a key player.〔 Khánh expected a large reward, but the junta instead sidelined him, excluding him from the twelve-man Military Revolutionary Council.〔 In mid-December he was moved from the II Corps in the central highlands to the command of the I Corps based around Huế and Da Nang in the far north of the Republic of Vietnam. This, it was speculated, was to keep him far away from Saigon in an attempt to stop him from involving himself in politics.〔〔Shaplen, p. 230.〕 This was contrary to Khánh's request for a transfer to the IV Corps in the Mekong Delta close to Saigon, where most of the fighting was taking place. In an interview with journalist Robert Shaplen, Khánh made no attempt to hide his annoyance at not being given a more important job. With respect to the 1963 coup that overthrew and killed Diệm, he cryptically commented "It is too soon yet to tell the whole story, but someday I will tell it to you".〔 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also reported that Khánh was motivated by a suspicion that Minh's junta knew he was untrustworthy and was going to give him an overseas government post to sideline him completely.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1964 South Vietnamese coup」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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