text: phạm ngọc thảo colonel phạm ngọc thảo ( ipa : hanoi : [ ᷉ ɔ ] , saigon : [ ̂ ᷉ ɔ ] ) , also known as albert thảo ( 1922 – 1965 ) , was a communist sleeper agent of the viet minh ( and , later , of the vietnam people 's army ) who infiltrated the army of the republic of vietnam and also became a major provincial leader in south vietnam . in 1962 , he was made overseer of ngô đình nhu 's strategic hamlet program in south vietnam and deliberately forced it forward at an unsustainable speed , causing the production of poorly equipped and poorly defended villages and the growth of rural resentment toward the regime of president ngô đình diệm , nhu 's elder brother . in light of the failed " land reform " efforts in north vietnam , the hanoi government welcomed thao 's efforts to undermine diem . during the first indochina war , thảo was a communist officer in the vietminh and helped oversee various operations in the mekong delta in the far south , at one point commanding his future enemy nguyễn khánh , who briefly served the communist cause . after the french withdrawal and the partition of vietnam , thảo stayed in the south and made a show of renouncing communism . he became part of the military establishment in the anti - communist southern regime and quickly rose through the ranks . nominally catholic , thảo befriended diệm 's elder brother , archbishop pierre martin ngô đình thục — the devoutly roman catholic ngô family strongly favored co - religionists and had great trust in thảo , unaware that he was still loyal to the communists . he went on to serve as the chief of bến tre province , and gained fame after the area — traditionally a communist stronghold — suddenly became peaceful and prosperous . vietnamese and us officials , as well as journalists hostile to or supportive of saigon , misinterpreted this as a testament to thảo 's great ability , and he was promoted to a more powerful position where he could further his sabotage . thảo and the communists in the local area had simply stopped fighting , so that the communists could quietly recuperate , while thảo would appear to be very skillful and be given a more important job where he could do more damage . through intrigue , thảo also helped destabilise and ultimately unseat two south vietnamese regimes — diem 's and the military junta of khánh . as the diệm regime began to unravel in 1963 , thảo was one of the officers planning a coup . his plot was ultimately integrated into the successful plot and his activities promoted infighting which weakened the government and distracted the military from fighting the viet cong insurgency . throughout 1964 and 1965 , as south vietnam was struggling to establish a stable state after the ouster of diệm , thảo was involved in several intrigues and coup plots which diverted the government from implementing its programs . in 1965 , he went into hiding after a failed attempt to seize power from khánh and was sentenced to death in absentia . although this coup also failed , the subsequent chaos forced khánh 's junta to collapse . thảo died the same year he was forced into hiding ; it is believed that he was murdered after a bounty was placed on his head . after vietnam was reunified at the end of the vietnam war , the victorious communists claimed thảo as one of their own and posthumously made him a one - star general . early vietminh years born phạm ngọc , thảo was one of eleven children of a northern vietnamese roman catholic family . at the time , vietnam was a french colony . the family held french citizenship but opposed french colonialism . his father , an engineer , once headed an underground communist organisation in paris , which assisted the viet minh 's anti - french pro - independence activities outside vietnam . after attending french schools in saigon , changed his name to thảo and renounced his french citizenship . in his high school years at the lycée chasseloup - laubat , thảo met trương như tảng , who later became a high - ranking member of the viet cong , a communist guerrilla organisation in south vietnam . tảng described thảo as " my dearest friend " and recalled that they had " spent endless hours talking about everything under the sun . we were closer than brothers . " thảo spent his teenage years obsessed with his motorcycle . despite being educated at an upper - class school that served children of french colonial administrators and privileged vietnamese — french was the medium of instruction and gallic culture and history a major part of the curriculum — thảo was attracted to nationalist politics . he participated in hồ chí minh 's revolutionary campaigns for vietnamese independence and joined the vietminh . in september 1945 , hồ declared independence under the democratic republic of vietnam ( drv ) following the withdrawal of imperial japan , which had seized control of the country from france during the second world war . at the time , there was a power vacuum , as both japan and france had been decimated by the war . there was an outbreak of nationalist fervour in vietnam ; tảng and thảo joined the vanguard youth , an impromptu independence militia . tảng was assigned to be the leader of the local unit , but he left the movement soon after , leaving thảo in command . during this period , saigon was regularly engulfed in riots . in 1946 , france attempted to reassert control over its colony and conventional military fighting broke out . thảo served with the vietminh in the mekong delta in the far south of vietnam during the war against french rule from 1946 – 54 . he almost met his end before he had started ; he was apprehended by the local communists in mỹ tho , who saw his french - style dress and mistook him for a colonial agent . they tied him up and chained him to a block of stone before throwing him into a river to drown . however , thảo broke free of the weight and swam to safety . thảo proceeded further south and deeper into the mekong delta to the town of vĩnh long , where he was again arrested by the local vietminh . just as thảo was about to be executed by drowning , one of the communists realised he was a brother of one of their comrades . thảo was released and rejoined his family , who lived in the region . as a leader of the resistance , thảo was allocated the responsibility of indoctrinating the 1947 batch of recruits with vietminh ideology . one of thảo 's students was his future enemy , south vietnamese general and president nguyễn khánh . this group became the 410th battalion and went on to fight near cà mau , the southernmost part of vietnam . by 1949 , thảo was in charge of the vietminh espionage apparatus around saigon and organised the guerrilla companies in the countryside . thảo was also involved in procuring arms . filipino traders brought arms into southern vietnam in return for rice , shrimp , pork , gold and banknotes . following the french defeat in 1954 at điện biên phủ , thảo helped evacuate communist fighters from south vietnam and cambodia in accordance with the terms of the geneva conference . under these accords , vietnam was to be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel pending national elections to reunify the country in 1956 , and military personnel were to be evacuated to their respective sides of the border . in the meantime , hồ chí minh 's vietminh controlled the north under the drv while the south was under the french - sponsored state of vietnam . however , thảo remained in the anti - communist south when vietnam was partitioned and made a show of renouncing communism . he became a schoolteacher and later worked in a bank , as well as the department of transport . he consistently refused to turn in the names of his former comrades , claiming that they were merely patriots fighting against the french and were not communists . at the same time , one of thảo 's brothers had been appointed as north vietnam 's ambassador to east germany , having served as vice chairman of the vietminh 's resistance committee for the south during the war against the french . in october 1955 , prime minister diệm ousted emperor bảo đại in a referendum to determine the form of government of the state of vietnam . " republic " received almost 99 % of the vote and " monarchy " received a little over 1 % . diệm declared himself president of the newly proclaimed republic of vietnam . he scrapped the national elections , citing the fact that south vietnam was not a signatory to the accords of the geneva conference . undercover communist in the south vietnamese army the u.s.-backed diệm was passionately anti - communist . in 1957 , he initiated an " anti - communist denunciation campaign " to root out vietminh members and their sympathisers . thousands of people were killed or jailed , and in time diệm 's campaigns created more sympathy for the vietminh . before 1960 , various small - scale pro - communist uprisings were taking place in the countryside . thảo went on the run and hid in vĩnh long , worried that diệm 's men were after him . in december 1960 , north vietnam 's politburo authorised the creation of the national front for the liberation of south vietnam , popularly known as the viet cong . the vietcong were dominated by communists , but portrayed itself as a nationalist militant organisation , stating its aim to be the " reunification of the fatherland " with the overthrow of the " disguised colonial regime of the u.s. imperialists and the dictatorial ngo dinh diem administration " . the creation of the vietcong marked an escalation in the scale and organisation of the insurgency that developed into the vietnam war . thảo 's catholic background helped him to avoid detection as a communist . he and his brother were the only members of the family who were not anti - communist . the remainder of the relatives were followers of diệm 's brother , archbishop thục , who had been bishop of vĩnh long during the war against france . thảo was known to have a face that revealed nothing of his inner feelings . thục 's intervention helped thảo rise in the army of the republic of vietnam ( arvn ) . thục put thảo in touch with trần kim tuyến , who was in charge of intelligence operations under diệm 's younger brother nhu , who was the head of the secret police and controlled the arvn special forces . thảo began as a propagandist for various units of the army and for the secret catholic cần lao party , whose system of informants and secret cells helped create the atmosphere of a police state and maintained the ngô family 's grip on power . tảng believed that thục " undoubtedly considered that thảo 's catholic and family loyalties were stronger and more durable than his youthful enthusiasm for revolution " . he felt that thảo had tricked thục into believing that he was no longer a communist , and that his inside knowledge would be useful to the ngô family . thảo started by training the civil guard . as a result of his family 's catholic connections , thảo rose steadily in the arvn , since diệm 's regime had always promoted officers primarily on religious preference and loyalty . nhu sent him to malaysia to study counterinsurgency techniques , and upon his return , thảo became a vital part of nhu 's efforts to purge the army of disloyal officers . as thảo kept a close watch on those who commanded troops , lest they use their personnel in a coup , the leading officers were keen to maintain a good relationship with him , which increased his effectiveness as a spy . thảo rose even further when the troops he commanded helped put down the november 1960 coup attempt against diệm . thảo assisted khánh and trần thiện khiêm to put down the revolt . all three were promoted , with the latter pair gaining the leadership of the arvn and of the combined forces , respectively . this cemented the trio 's close ties . thảo was promoted to the post of chief of bến tre province . he covertly worked with the cadres of nguyễn thị định , a vietcong leader who later became the highest ranking female communist in post - war reunified vietnam . the area was a traditional communist stronghold , and anti - government attacks had increased in recent times , but it suddenly became peaceful when thảo arrived . there were rumours that thảo and the communists had decided to cease fighting for their mutual benefit ; the guerrillas could quietly strengthen themselves , while thảo would appear to be successful and he would be promoted to a more powerful position where he could cause more damage to diệm . the lack of fighting between thảo 's forces and the vietcong proved to beneficial to the communist cause . in a three - month period in 1963 , the vietcong were able to recruit 2 , 000 men in bến tre and formed two more battalions . thảo was praised by the ngô family and u.s. military advisors , unaware of his ruse . he received another promotion , and with it , more influence and contacts among the officer corps . the us ambassador , elbridge durbrow , described bến tre province as an " agricultural showplace " and advised journalists to travel there to see thảo 's successful administration . the influential american journalist joe alsop changed his plans so that he could spend more time in bến tre , saying that the province " particularly inspires hope " . in one operation by thảo 's arvn forces , american field journalists covering the battle saw their hours - long attempt to box in a vietcong battalion yield only one farmer who lived in a hut with antigovernment slogans . despite this , the american journalists and vietnamese officers remained unaware that thảo was a double agent . in fact , the pulitzer prize - winning journalist david halberstam misinterpreted the lack of attacks in bến tre , while other provinces were being ravaged , as proof that thảo was one of the few capable government officials in the mekong delta . journalist robert shaplen wrote : " in all respects , thao is one of the most remarkable vietnamese around , being a conspiratorial revolutionary figure straight out of a malraux novel and , at the same time , a highly sophisticated and astute man , whose talents , if only they were properly channeled , could profitably be used right now . " as thảo was a former leader of the vietminh , outsiders thought that his apparent success was due his first - hand knowledge of communist tactics . during his period as the province chief , thảo set up the council of elders , a consultative body of 20 – 200 men and women , who were allowed to criticise local officials . he advocated the creation of the council of patrons , a philanthropic body to raise money for community projects . strategic hamlet program in 1962 , nhu began work on the ambitious strategic hamlet program , an attempt to build fortified villages that would be secure zones for rural vietnamese . the objective was to lock the vietcong out so that they could not operate among the villagers . thảo supervised these efforts , and when told that the peasants resented being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands and put into forts that they were forced to build , he advised nhu and tuyến that it was imperative to build as many hamlets as fast as possible . this pleased the vietcong , who felt that thảo 's efforts were turning the rural populace against saigon . thảo specifically had villages built in areas that he knew had a strong vietcong presence . this increased the number of communist sympathisers who were placed inside the hamlets and given identification cards . as a result , the vietcong were able to more effectively penetrate the villages to access supplies and personnel . later in 1962 , united states secretary of defense robert mcnamara visited south vietnam and was taken on an inspection tour of the country , accompanied by diệm and thảo . perhaps because thảo divulged the tour details to vietcong guerrillas , each of mcnamara 's stopovers was punctuated by bloody attacks on nearby arvn installations . for example , when mcnamara was in bình dương province , five government soldiers were killed . as he flew from đà lạt north to đà nẵng near the demilitarized zone , he was greeted by a vietcong bombing of a southbound troop train , which killed 27 and wounded 30 civil guard members . the fall of diệm in 1963 , the diệm regime began to lose its tight control over the country as civil unrest spread as a result of the buddhist crisis . large scale demonstrations by the buddhist majority erupted in response to the government shootings of nine buddhists in huế who were protesting against a ban on the flying of the buddhist flag during vesak , the birthday of gautama buddha . with diệm remaining intransigent in the face of buddhist demands for religious equality , sections of society began calling for his removal from power . thảo was part of the many plots that engulfed saigon , destabilising the regime . aiming for a 15 july coup , tuyến consulted with thảo regarding his plans , but tuyến was too closely associated with nhu to recruit the necessary military aid and he was subsequently exiled by nhu . tuyen 's group ended up being led by thảo but his initial coup plans were shelved when american cia agent lucien conein instructed thảo 's superior , general khiêm , to stop the coup on the grounds that it was premature . thảo 's motivation for involvement in the plotting is generally attributed to communist instructions for him to cause infighting within the arvn whenever possible . he resumed plotting , intending to stage the coup on 24 october . he had recruited various infantry , marine and paratroop units for his scheme , totalling 3 , 000 men . thảo 's group did not carry out the coup after senior generals persuaded him to integrate his forces into their larger group , which was more likely to succeed . thảo reasoned that aligning himself with a group of officers that were likely to successful would yield more influence in the resulting junta . the coup was successfully executed on 1 november 1963 under the leadership of generals dương văn minh and trần văn đôn . thảo commanded around two dozen tanks , which formed a column in the streets surrounding the presidential palace at midnight , and helped launch the full - scale attack at 03 : 30 on 2 november . the rebels eventually gained control of the building , and at daybreak thảo 's forces stormed the palace , but found it empty ; diệm and nhu had escaped . a captured officer of the presidential guard revealed the brothers ' hiding place and under the orders of khiêm , thảo went after them . khiêm ordered thảo to ensure the brothers were not physically harmed . thảo arrived at the house in cholon where the brothers were purportedly hiding and phoned the rebels back at the palace . diệm and nhu were apparently listening in on an extension in another room and escaped . the brothers subsequently surrendered to an arvn convoy led by general mai hữu xuân at a nearby catholic church and were executed en route to military headquarters despite being promised safe exile . the us media 's links to thảo have been the source of historical debate . the journalists ' reporting of diệm 's authoritarian rule , military failures , and attacks on buddhists shifted american public opinion and put pressure on washington to withdraw support for the ngô family and seek a change of leadership . william felt that the fall of diệm was the biggest influence of the media on american foreign policy in over six decades . thảo and phạm xuân had been the source of much of the media 's information . conservative revisionist historians have accused the media of bringing down diệm by publishing reports that , according to them , were based on false data disseminated by communist propagandists to unfairly malign diệm 's rule , which they claim was effective and fair towards the buddhist majority . participation in military junta after the fall of the diệm regime , thảo was designated by the head of state minh and the civilian prime minister nguyễn ngọc thơ to create the nucleus of a group called the council of notables , and promote it to the which , as an interim body of prominent civilians , would advise the military junta before it handed over power to an elected legislature under civilian rule . the council of 60 people , 58 men and 2 women , held its first meeting on 1 january 1964 in saigon . the council was composed almost entirely of well - known professionals and academics and , as such , was hardly representative of south vietnamese society ; there were no delegates from the agricultural or labour sectors of the economy . it gained a reputation for being a forum of debate , rather than a means of enacting policy change and government programs for the populace . thơ and minh assigned thảo with the task of encouraging a transition to democracy by facilitating the formation of a few political parties . this was ineffective , as many political parties with only a handful of members sprang up and squabbled . within 45 days of the coup , 62 parties had formed but nothing meaningful resulted . in the end , these efforts proved to be irrelevant as minh 's junta and the accompanying council of notables were overthrown before the end of the month . during this period , thảo served as the head of military security and played a role in replacing colonel đỗ khắc mai with nguyễn cao kỳ as the head of the vietnam air force . in the aftermath of the coup , vietcong attacks increased markedly amid infighting among the saigon leadership , which thảo had helped to stir up . the generals sent thảo to fort leavenworth in the united states for six months to learn conventional warfare tactics . he also spent a month in england before returning to vietnam . by this time , minh 's junta had been replaced in a 1964 january coup by khánh . it is suspected that one of the generals ' motives for deploying thảo overseas was his continual involvement in plotting . khánh appointed thảo as his press officer as well as an unofficial political adviser . later that same year , khánh became involved in a power struggle with his deputy khiêm as well as minh , who had been retained as the titular head of state . thảo was a close friend of khiêm , so when khánh prevailed in the power struggle , khánh despatched khiêm to washington as the ambassador with thảo was his press attaché . in august 1964 , khánh 's leadership became increasingly troubled after he tried to augment his powers by declaring a state of emergency . this only provoked large - scale protests and riots calling for an end to military rule , with buddhist activists at the forefront . fearful of losing power , khánh began making concessions to the protesters and promised democracy in the near future , which encouraged more groups to demand changes , and khánh demoted certain catholic pro - diệm supporters . on 13 september , a catholic - dominated group led by generals lâm văn phát and dương văn đức , both of whom had been demoted , moved troops into saigon but then withdrew after it became obvious they did not have the numbers to remove khánh . khiêm and thảo were implicated in helping to plot phát and đức 's attempted putsch ; both were sent abroad by khánh . 1965 attempted coup in late december 1964 , thảo was summoned back to saigon by khánh , who correctly suspected him and khiêm of plotting together with washington . thảo suspected khánh was attempting to have him killed , so he went underground upon returning to saigon , and began plotting in earnest , having been threatened with being charged for desertion . he sheltered in a house belonging to a friend of trương như tảng . the ruling junta appealed to thảo in newspaper advertisements and broadcasts to follow orders to report , but he ignored them . in mid - january 1965 , the regime called for him to report to his superiors in the arvn , warning that he would be " considered guilty of abandoning his post with all the consequences of such a situation " if he failed to do so . due to his catholic background , thảo was able to recruit diệm loyalists such as phát . with khánh 's grip on power shaky , an anonymous source said that thảo was worried about how he would be treated if someone else took over : " thao acted first , out of fear that if he did not , the other generals would overthrow khanh and get rid of him as well . he knew that if the others overthrew khanh his fate would be worse than khanh 's . " during this time , thảo kept in touch with elements of the cia in an attempt to get american backing . meanwhile , khiêm had been putting pressure on khánh for over two months by charging him and the buddhists of seeking a " neutralist solution " and " negotiating with the communists " . at the same time , khánh 's relationship with the americans — particularly ambassador and retired general maxwell taylor — had broken down over a series of policy disputes and personal arguments , and the americans were trying to encourage khánh 's colleagues to overthrow him so that more hawkish policies could be enacted . the other generals wanted to overthrow khánh and were aware that thảo — who was widely distrusted — was planning to make a move . they anticipated trouble in trying to keep their subordinates , who were becoming impatient with khánh 's ongoing tenure , from joining thảo . between january and february , thảo continued to finalize the details of his own counter - coup , using the contacts he had cultivated over the past decades . phát and other pro - diệm officers opposed the buddhist influence being exerted on khánh . thảo consulted kỳ — who wanted to seize power for himself — before the plot , and exhorted him to join the coup , but the air force chief claimed that he was remaining neutral . thảo thus believed kỳ would not intervene against him , but kỳ was strongly opposed to thảo and phát . american intelligence analysts had believed that general don was involved in the coup with phát and thảo , but this was proven false when the action started . eight months after the coup was over , don told the american historian george mcturnan kahin that he had been plotting with thảo , who had planned for him to become defense minister and chief of staff of the military , but that the đại việt and thảo 's catholic civilian allies had insisted on installing khiêm , a catholic . a month before the coup , american intelligence analysts had believed that thảo was planning to replace khánh as commander - in - chief with don . shortly before noon on 19 february , he used around fifty tanks , their crew and a mixture of infantry battalions to seize control of the military headquarters , the post office and the radio station of saigon . he surrounded the home of general khánh and gia long palace , the residence of head of state phan khắc sửu . the tanks were led by colonel dương hiếu nghĩa , a catholic member of the đại việt . the country was still trying to find stability , with phan huy quát being appointed prime minister just three days earlier . khánh managed to escape and flee to vũng tàu . his plane lifted off from tan son nhut air base , the country 's military headquarters , just as rebel tanks were rolling in , attempting to block the runway . thảo 's men tried to capture the saigon base of the republic of vietnam navy , and its commander , admiral chung tấn cang , but were foiled , but they did capture a number of junta members at tan son nhut . thảo made a radio announcement stating that the sole objective of his military operation was to get rid of khánh , whom he described as a " dictator " . he said that he intended to recall khiêm to saigon to lead the armed forces council in place of khánh , but would retain the civilian cabinet that answered to the generals . in doing so , he caught khiêm off guard , asleep in his maryland home . when informed of what was happening , khiêm sent a cable in which he pledged " total support " to the plot . the coup group made pro - diệm announcements , claiming then - u.s. ambassador henry cabot lodge , jr . " was wrong in encouraging the coup against diem rather than correcting mistakes " . a catholic rebel officer made a speech extolling diệm , and mourning his loss . this gave the impression that the coup plotters wanted to roll back the country to a diệm - era position and punish those who had been involved in diệm 's overthrow and execution . thảo 's group also promised to aggressively fight the vietcong and cooperate with the united states . throughout the day , a series of anti - khánh speeches were broadcast on radio , and the rebels claimed to have the support of four divisions , something that was regarded as dubious . u.s. government analysts concluded that the rebellion was " primarily a move by die - hard neo - and catholic military militants , disturbed at the rise of buddhist influence , opposed to gen. khánh and — in a vague , ill - thought - out way — desirous of turning back the clock and undoing some of the results of the november 1963 ouster of diem . " among the civilians linked to thảo 's plot were catholic academics and a militant priest . as diệm had strongly discriminated along religious lines , the rebels ' commented caused a negative response among the buddhist majority . the buddhist activist monk thich tam chau called on buddhists to support the incumbent junta . the pro - diệm speeches also alarmed pro - buddhist and anti - diệm generals , such as nguyễn chánh thi and nguyễn hữu có , who had been part of the failed 1960 and successful 1963 coups against diệm respectively . they thought that thảo and phat might seek revenge , driving many anti - diệm officers who may have otherwise been neutral or sympathetic to the coup , to swing more towards khánh . although taylor and us military commander general william westmoreland wanted khánh out , the pro - diệm political ideology expressed by thảo 's supporters alienated them , as they feared that the coup plotters would destabilize and polarize the country if they took power . the americans worried that phat and thảo could galvanize support for khánh through their extreme views , which had the potential to provoke large - scale sectarian divisions , playing into the hands of the communists and hindering wider american objectives . they were also worried by thảo 's intention to remove quát and the civilian government , whom he saw was " too susceptible to buddhist " . the u.s. saw civilian participation in governance as a necessity . they worried that a khánh victory would enhance his prestige , so they wanted to see some third force emerge and defeat both the thảo and khánh factions . westmoreland and taylor decided to work for the failure of both thảo and khánh , and helped organize us advisers for the purpose . phat was supposed to seize the bien hoa air base to prevent air force chief kỳ from mobilising air power against them , but he failed to reach the airfield before kỳ , who circled tan son nhut and threatened to bomb the rebels . most of the forces of the iii and iv corps surrounding the capital disliked both khánh and the rebels , and took no action . however , as night came , senior military opinion began to turn against thảo and phát , although it was not clear at this stage whether the anti - thảo forces being organised and led by thi were hostile to khánh as well . at 20 : 00 , phát and thảo met with kỳ , and insisted that khánh be removed from power . the coup collapsed when , between midnight and dawn , anti - thảo forces swept into the city from the south along with some components of the 7th airborne brigade loyal to kỳ from biên hòa in the north . whether the rebels were genuinely defeated by the overwhelming show of strength or whether a deal was struck with kỳ to end the revolt in exchange for khánh 's removal is disputed , although a large majority support the latter . according to the latter version , phát and thảo agreed to free the members of the armed forces council that they had arrested and withdraw in exchange for khánh 's complete removal from power . possibly as a means of saving face , phát and thảo were given an appointment with the figurehead chief of state sửu , who was under close control by the junta , to " order " him to sign a decree stripping khánh of his military leadership , and organizing a meeting of the junta and prime minister quát 's civilian cabinet . during the early morning , while the radio station was still in the hands of thảo 's men , a message attributed to sửu was read out ; it claimed that the chief of state had sacked khánh . however , the authenticity of the announcement was put into doubt when loyalists took control of the station and sửu spoke in person , claiming otherwise . there were no injuries or deaths in the coup . before fleeing , thảo broadcast a premature message claiming the coup had been effective in removing khánh , and the armed forces council later adopted a vote of no confidence in khánh later that day , and forced him into exile . later in the morning , while on the run , thảo made a broadcast using a military radio system to call for khanh 's departure and defend his actions , which he described as being in the best interest of the nation . phat and thảo were stripped of their ranks , but nothing was initially done as far as prosecuting or sentencing them for their involvement in the coup . in hiding , and death while in hiding in catholic villages , thảo expressed his willingness to surrender and cooperate with quát 's government , if he and approximately fifty officers involved in the coup were granted amnesty . he also offered to go into exile in the united states , where his family had moved when he was sent there for training in 1964 . in may 1965 , a military tribunal sentenced both thảo and phát to death in absentia . the death sentence was attributed to the influence of thi , who had assigned hit squads to look for him . after the conclusion of the trial , it was announced that the armed forces council would disband and give the civilians more control in running the government . thi was believed to have agreed to the transfer of power to a civilian government in return for thảo 's death . as a result , thảo had little choice but to attempt to seize power in order to save himself and he and thi began to manoeuvre against one another . on 20 may , a half dozen officers and around forty civilians , most or all of whom were catholic , were arrested on charges of attempting to assassinate quát and kidnap thi and kỳ . several of the arrested were known supporters of thảo and believed to be abetting him in evading the authorities . despite this , thảo himself managed to escape , even as a us $ 30 , 000 bounty was put on him by the junta . on 16 july 1965 , he was reported dead in unclear circumstances ; an official report claimed that he died of injuries while on a helicopter en route to saigon , after being captured north of the city . however , it is generally assumed that he was murdered or tortured to death on the orders of some military officials . one report holds that a catholic priest betrayed thảo , while another claims general nguyễn văn thiệu caught him . in his memoirs , kỳ claimed thảo had been captured by police in saigon and " died in jail a few weeks later , probably from a beating " . after the fall of saigon in 1975 , a conspiracy theory emerged , maintaining that thảo went underground and worked in counterintelligence for the communist central office of south vietnam , helping to hunt down vietcong cadres who had defected to saigon . legacy although thảo 's last plot failed , his activities in 1965 and the resultant infighting led to a series of internal purges within the arvn . amid the instability , the vietcong made strong gains across the country throughout the year . in response to the deteriorating military situation , the americans began to deploy combat troops to south vietnam in large numbers . thảo was posthumously promoted by the arvn to the rank of one – star general and awarded the title of heroic war dead ( vietnamese : sĩ ) . after the fall of saigon and the end of the vietnam war , the communist government awarded him the same title and paid war pensions to his family , claiming him as one of their own . in 1981 , the communists had his body exhumed and reburied in the " patriots ' cemetery " in ho chi minh city ( previously saigon ) . tảng believed thảo " was a man who throughout his life fought single - mindedly for vietnam 's independence " . tảng , who later abandoned communism , said that thảo " was a nationalist , not an ideologue " , and credited him with turning the military tide towards the communists by helping to bring down diệm and fomenting chronic instability and infighting for 18 months . hồ chí minh had reacted to diệm 's death by saying " i can scarcely believe that the americans would be so stupid " . a communist report written in march 1965 , soon after thảo 's revolt had caused khánh to depart , stated that " the balance of force ... has changed very rapidly in our favor . ... the bulk of the enemy 's armed forces ... have disintegrated , and what is left continues to disintegrate " .