Ngo Dinh Diem Timeline of Events

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Ngo Dinh Diem

Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a 1955 plebiscite that was widely considered fraudulent...

Timeline of Events

1955

10.26.1955

Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.

1957

2.22.1957

Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam survived a communist shooting assassination attempt in Ban Me Thuot.

9.2.1957

President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.

1958

8.31.1958

A parcel bomb sent by Ngo Dinh Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

1960

11.11.1960

A military coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam is crushed.

1963

5.8.1963

South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine.

5.30.1963

A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.

8.21.1963

Xa Loi Pagoda raids: the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalises Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.

8.24.1963

Buddhist crisis: As a result of the Xa Loi Pagoda raids, the US State Department cables the US Embassy in Saigon to encourage Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals to launch a coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem if he did not remove his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu.

11.2.1963

South Vietnamese President Ngô Ðình Diệm is assassinated following a military coup.

11.6.1963

Vietnam War: Following the November 1 coup and execution of President Ngo Dinh Diem, coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam.

1964

5.9.1964

Ngo Dinh Can, de facto ruler of central Vietnam under his brother President Ngo Dinh Diem before the family's toppling, is executed.