Ton That Dinh

Tôn Thất Đính (born 1926) was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, who was one of the key figures in the coup which deposed Ngo Dinh Diem, the nation's first president, in 1963.

Early years

Trained as a paratrooper in France,cite book|title=A Bright Shining Lie:John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam| authorlink=Neil Sheehan | first= Neil |last=Sheehan |year=1988 |publisher=Random House| pages =p. 356| isbn=0-67972414-1] he became a favored protege of Ngo Dinh Can, the younger brother of Ngo Dinh Nhu, who controlled central Vietnam near Huế, who was impressed by what he considered to be an abundance of courage. Regarded by his peers as ambitious, vain and impulsive, Dinh's favour among the Ngo family saw him appointed to the rank of general in 1961 aged 35,cite book| title=Vietnam:A history| authorlink=Stanley Karnow |first=Stanley |last=Karnow |year=1997 |publisher=Penguin Books | pages =pp. 307–322| isbn=0-670-84218-4] making him the youngest ever ARVN general.cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War| first= Spencer. |last=Tucker |year=2000 |publisher=ABC-CLIO| pages =pp. 288–289| isbn=1-57607-040-0] Dinh had converted to Catholicism in the hope of advancing his career and was known mainly for his drunken presence in Saigon’s nightclubs.cite book| first=Seth |last=Jacobs| year=2006| title=Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers| isbn=0-7425-4447-8| pages=p. 169] The CIA labelled him as a “basic opportunist".cite book| first=William|last= Prochnau | authorlink=William Prochnau| title=Once upon a Distant War| year=1995 |publisher=Vintage|pages=pp. 441–442] He was known for always wearing a paratrooper’s uniform with a red beret at an angle, and was always accompanied by a tall, uncommunicative Cambodian bodyguard. [Jones, p. 397.]

Xa Loi Pagoda raid

As a key supporter of Diem, Dinh was entrusted as the head general in command of the ARVN forces in the Saigon region, as the Ngos trusted him to defend the city against any coup attempts. Diem's brother and confidant Ngo Dinh Nhu, who controlled the special forces and secret police, allowed Dinh to have a hand in planning raids against Buddhist dissidents who had been organizing at the Xa Loi Pagoda, Saigon's largest. Although, the execution of the raids were primarily the responsibility of Le Quang Tung, the special forces head, Dinh claimed public responsibility for the operation in a media conference. Stating

I have defeated Henry Cabot Lodge. He came here to stage a coup d'etat, but I, Ton That Dinh, have conquered him and saved the country.

he claimed to have saved South Vietnam from Buddhists, communists and "foreign adventurers", in a euphemism for the United States. After being questioned sharply, Dinh quickly became angry. Ray Herndon asked him to name the country that he was referring, but Dinh dodged the question. Herndon lampooned him by saying that a national hero should be able to identify who the national enemy was, and asked him to call Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, the First Lady known for her anti-American comments. After several reporters derisively laughed at his comments, he angrily stormed out of the conference.cite book|title=Vietnam: history, Documents, and opinions on a major world crisis| first= Marvin E. |last=Gettleman |year=1965 |publisher=Penguin Books| pages =pp. 283–295]

Defection and coup

His colleagues lead by General Tran Van Don who were plotting a coup attempted to play on his ego in a campaign of flattery to convince him to change sides. In a series of meetings, they assured him that he was a national hero worthy of political authority. His colleagues even bribed his soothsayer to give him a prediction of his elevation to political power. As a result, Dinh went and asked Diem to promote him to the post of Interior Minister. Diem is reported to have bluntly chastised Dinh in front of his colleagues, and ordered him out of Saigon to the central highlands resort town of Da Lat to rest.

Dinh then agreed to join the coup, although with his ambitious nature, the other officers were skeptical of him. Diem and Nhu were aware of the coup plans, however thought that Dinh was still loyal, and planned with him to stage a fake coup and countercoup, in order to have a public relations stunt that showed that the military supported his regime. As a result, Dinh was put in charge of the fake coup, and was allowed an additional control of troops previously assigned to Diem loyalist General Huynh Van Cao, who was in charge of the Mekong Delta. The part of Cao's troops near My Tho that were reassigned to Dinh gave him temporary encirclement of Saigon with all his troops. In addition, Dinh and Nhu had agreed with Tung, another loyalist, to send his Special Forces out of Saigon, with the pretext of fighting communists instead of their usual duty of arresting dissidents. Nhu had intended this so that Tung's forces would triumphantly restore the Ngo family in the "countercoup" for propaganda purposes.

On November 1, 1963, the coup went ahead, and with Cao's troops isolated in the far south, and Tung's forces also outside Saigon, unable to rescue Diem from the encirclement of rebel forces. Tung was called to the army headquarters, under the pretense of the routine meeting, and was arrested and executed. After many attempts by Diem to make contact with to speak with Dinh were denied by other generals who claimed that he was elsewhere, Dinh was allowed to have the final words with Diem before they were finally arrested to prove his loyalty to the rebels. Dinh subsequently shouted obscenities at Diem and Nhu. Dinh alleged that Nhu’s contacts with the communists and threats to make a deal with North Vietnam had motivated the coup. [Jones, p. 421.] When Diem and Nhu were killed by the arresting officers against the orders of the generals, Dinh claimed that he "couldn’t sleep that night”.Jones, p. 429.]

Post-Diem

Dinh was subsequently made Interior Minister by Prime Minister Nguyen Ngoc Tho following the coup although Thop was said to have been personally against the appointment.Eventually General Duong Van Minh, the head of the military junta, struck a compromise where Dinh was Security Minster and Administrative Affairs which partially covered the Interior Ministry. Dinh was reported to have celebrated by making conspicuous appearances at Saigon nightclubs and dancing, having lifted Madame Nhu’s bans on such activities. He reportedly kissed the bar dancers and ordered champagne for everyone. Dinh's brash behavior continued to cause problems for the junta. In an interview with the "Washington Post" and "The New York Times", he claimed that he took a leading role in the coup because "we would have lost the war under Diem" and saying that he participated "not for personal ambition, but for the population, the people and to get rid of Nhu". He claimed to be the "specialist" who "gave the orders in only thirty minutes", keeping everything "all in his head". He also courted controversy with some anti-American remarks, stating "On August 21, I was governor of Saigon and loyal to Diem; on November 1, I was governor of Saigon and fighting Diem; maybe in the future I’ll be governor of Saigon and fighting against he Americans."Jones, pp. 437–438.]

Dinh's political stay was brief, when he was arrested by Nguyen Khanh in another coup in early 1964, who charged him with attempting to negotiate a peace settlement with North Vietnam. The charges were dropped. With the rise of Nguyen Cao Ky to power, Dinh returned to a role in the army and was in April 1966 appointed to command the I Corps, based near Hue, relieving Nguyen Chanh Thi who had rebelled. After only a few months, Ky removed him after he had criticized the tactics employed against Buddhist dissidents there. Dinh then entered the Senate in 1967, and served there until the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, when he left the country.

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