Oliver Stone Interview JFK 30th Anniversary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaAWgtZz55Q

Oliver Stone Interview; JFK 30th Anniversary 1991-2021

JFK revisited, November 12, 2021 (USA)

Oliver Stone: It was a coup d';tat

A coup d';tat, or simply a coup, is an illegal and overt attempt by a military organisation or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership by force. A self-coup is when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means.

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In November 1963, President Ng; ;;nh Di;m and the Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam were deposed by a group of CIA-backed Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with Di;m's handling of the Buddhist crisis and the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong threat to South Vietnam. In South Vietnam, the coup was referred to as C;ch m;ng 1-11-63 ("1 November 1963 Revolution").[3]

The Kennedy administration had been aware of the coup planning,[4] but Cable 243 from the United States Department of State to U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., stated that it was U.S. policy not to try to stop it.[5] Lucien Conein, the Central Intelligence Agency's liaison between the U.S. Embassy and the coup planners, told them that the U.S. would not intervene to stop it. Conein also provided funds to the coup leaders.[6]

The coup was led by General D;;ng V;n Minh and started on 1 November 1963. It proceeded smoothly as many loyalist leaders were captured after being caught off-guard and casualties were light. Di;m was captured and executed the next day along with his brother and advisor Ng; ;;nh Nhu.
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D;;ng V;n Minh (Vietnamese: [j;;; van mi;;] ;; 16 February 1916 – 6 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ng; ;;nh Di;m. In 1963, he became chief of a military junta after leading a coup in which Di;m was assassinated. Minh lasted only three months before being toppled by Nguy;n Kh;nh, but assumed power again as the fourth and last President of South Vietnam in April 1975, two days before surrendering to North Vietnamese forces. He earned his nickname "Big Minh", because at approximately 1.83 m (6 ft) tall and weighing 90 kg (198 lb), he was much larger than the average Vietnamese.[1]

Born in Ti;n Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam, Minh joined the French Army at the start of World War II, and was captured and tortured by the Imperial Japanese, who invaded and seized French Indochina. After his release, he joined the French-backed Vietnamese National Army (VNA) and was imprisoned by the communist-dominated Viet Minh before breaking out. In 1955, when Vietnam was partitioned and the State of Vietnam controlled the southern half under Prime Minister Ng; ;;nh Di;m, Minh led the VNA in decisively defeating the B;nh Xuy;n paramilitary crime syndicate in street combat and dismantling the H;a H;o religious tradition's private army. This made him popular with the people and Di;m, but the latter later put him in a powerless position, regarding him as a threat.

In 1963, the authoritarian Di;m became increasingly unpopular due to the Buddhist crisis and the ARVN generals decided to launch a coup, which Minh eventually led. Di;m was assassinated on 2 November 1963 shortly after being deposed. Minh was accused of ordering an aide, Nguy;n V;n Nhung, to kill Di;m.[2][3] Minh then led a junta for three months, but he was an unsuccessful leader and was heavily criticized for being lethargic and uninterested. During his three months of rule, many civilian problems intensified and the communist Viet Cong made significant gains. Angered at not receiving his desired post, General Nguy;n Kh;nh led a group of similarly motivated officers in a January 1964 coup. Kh;nh allowed Minh to stay on as a token head of state in order to capitalize on Minh's public standing, but retained real power. After a power struggle, Khanh had Minh exiled. Minh stayed away before deciding to return and challenge General Nguy;n V;n Thi;u in the presidential election of 1971. When it became obvious that Thieu would rig the poll, Minh withdrew and did not return until 1972, keeping a low profile.

Minh then advocated a "third force", maintaining that Vietnam could be reunified without a military victory to a hardline communist or anti-communist government. However, this was not something that Thi;u agreed with. In April 1975, as South Vietnam was on the verge of being overrun, Thieu resigned. A week later, Minh was chosen by the legislature and became president on 28 April. Saigon fell two days later on 30 April, and Minh ordered a surrender to prevent bloody urban street fighting. Minh was spared the lengthy incarceration meted out to South Vietnamese military personnel and civil servants, and lived quietly until being allowed to emigrate to France in 1983. He later moved to California, where he died.
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Execution

Di;m dead. Initial rumors said that he and his brother committed suicide.
The convoy was led by General Mai H;u Xu;n and consisted of Colonels Quan and L;m. Quan was Minh's deputy, and L;m was commander of Di;m's Civil Guard. L;m had joined the coup once a rebel victory seemed assured. Two further officers made up the convoy: Major D;;ng Hi;u Ngh;a and Captain Nhung, Minh's bodyguard.[119] Nhu expressed disgust that they were to be transported in an APC, asking "You use such a vehicle to drive the president?"[118] L;m assured them the armor was for their own protection. Xu;n told them it was selected to protect them from "extremists". The brothers' hands were tied behind their backs[citation needed].

After the arrest, Nhung and Ngh;a sat with the brothers in the APC, and the convoy departed for T;n S;n Nh;t. Before the convoy departed for the church, Minh reportedly gestured to Nhung with two fingers, which some have claimed was to be taken as an order to kill both brothers. The convoy stopped at a railroad crossing on the return trip, where by all accounts the brothers were killed. An investigation by ;;n later determined that Nghia had shot the brothers at point-blank range with a semi-automatic firearm and that Nhung sprayed them with bullets before repeatedly stabbing the bodies with a knife.[120]


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pwY_Mww6SY
Vietnam War 1963 : November Coup : The American Saigon coup and the road to disaster

The leader of South Vietnam was deposed in November, 1963. His removal from office started a chain reaction that would ultimately lead to the United States moving from "special war", where American involvement was largely limited to advisors, the "limited war" and the commitment of hundreds of thousands of combat troops. The coup was an American invention, but this commitment was not intentional. It was in fact a failure of American policy, as the chain reaction the American actions created put a military regime in control of South Vietnam, and their incompetence lead to another  …