Buddhist Uprising

South Vietnam was often portrayed as having a Buddhist majority, comprising 70% or more of the population. These figures, reported by foreign journalists, were overestimated, as Westerners commonly mistook folk religion for Buddhism. The actual number of Buddhists was much smaller, at most about 27%. Ngo Dinh Diem was regarded by "orthodox" historians as having pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists. The government was regarded as being biased towards Catholics in public service and military promotions, as well as the allocation of land and business favors. The "private" status that was imposed on Buddhism by the French, which required official permission to conduct public Buddhist activities, was not repealed by Diệm. The white and gold Catholic flag was allegedly flown at major public events in South Vietnam. However, portrayals by Western media at the time were severely distorted, as Vietnamese Buddhism in fact flourished under Diệm's First Republic. On May 8, 1963, Diệm's officials invoked a rarely enforced law to prohibit the display of religious flags, forbidding Buddhists from flying their flag on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha. This caused Buddhist indignation, as Catholic flags had been flown a week earlier at a celebration for Diệm's brother, Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục. On May 8, in Huế, a crowd of Buddhists protested against the ban on the Buddhist flag. The police and army opened fire and threw grenades at the demonstrators, leaving nine dead. Diệm's denial of responsibility for the incident—he blamed it on the communist Viet Cong—led to more discontent among the Buddhist majority. The incident spurred a protest movement against the religious discrimination of Diệm's Roman Catholic-dominated regime. The dispute came to be known as the Buddhist crisis, and it provoked widespread and large-scale civil disobedience. The objective of the protests was to have Decree Number 10 repealed, and to gain religious equality. However, the standoff persisted, and in August, the ARVN Special Forces of Colonel Lê Quang Tung, loyal to Diệm's brother and chief adviser Ngô Đình Nhu, raided temples across the country, killing an estimated hundreds and arresting thousands of Buddhist laypeople and monks. After this, the American government began to turn against Diệm and secretly encouraged a coup. On November 1, Diệm was deposed and he and Nhu were assassinated the next day. After Diệm, South Vietnam went through a period of persistent and serious instability, as multiple coups, as well as other failed uprisings, occurred for 18 months. In September 1964, the Catholic Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức tried to overthrow Khanh after he had removed them under Buddhist pressure. This failed, but in February 1965, Phat tried again with the help of fellow Catholic, Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, publicly invoking the memory of Diệm in launching their coup. Phát's second attempt also failed, and the pair went on the run, but the inability of Khánh to secure a decisive victory forced him into exile. In mid-1965, Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ and General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu took charge as prime minister and figurehead president, respectively, and continuity began to arise. and claiming that Cần Lao members were undermining Kỳ. The Buddhist leader Thích Trí Quang said that "Thi is nominally a Buddhist, but does not really care about religion". The Buddhist activists wanted to end the war through a negotiated settlement with the communists and the departure of the Americans, The historian Robert Topmiller thought that Kỳ may have seen the article as destabilizing and therefore decided to move against Thi. Thi also manoeuvred to have a trusted subordinate installed as the head of the national police, increasing his political power. The historian Stanley Karnow said of Kỳ and Thi: "Both flamboyant characters who wore gaudy uniforms and sported sinister moustaches, the two young officers had been friends, and their rivalry seemed to typify the personal struggles for power that chronically afflicted South Vietnam. But their dispute mirrored more than individual ambition." Both were also known for their colourful red berets. Kỳ's ego was boosted by Johnson's praise, and he left Honolulu believing that the United States would support him if he dismissed Thi. Kỳ mustered the support of eight of the generals on the 10-man junta, meaning that along with his vote, there were nine officers in favour of Thi's removal. The junta put Thi under house arrest pending his departure from the country, and then appointed General Nguyễn Văn Chuân, the erstwhile commander of 1st Division and a Thi subordinate, as the new I Corps commander. At first, Kỳ said that Thi was leaving the country to receive medical treatment for his nasal passages. General Westmoreland, US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., and the Defense Secretary Robert McNamara were supportive of the Kỳ-Thiệu regime and their prosecution of the war against the communists, and they opposed Thi, regarding him as not being firm enough against communism. Meanwhile, in the capital in mid-to-late March, Kỳ took the lead in trying to dampen discontent, meeting Buddhist leaders and promising elections and social reform; however, he also warned that street demonstrations would be suppressed. Kỳ claimed that he allowed Thi to return to his old area of command as a goodwill gesture, to keep central Vietnamese happy, and because he promised Thi a farewell visit before going into exile. However, the supporters of Quang appeared unwilling to wait for Kỳ's schedule, calling for the Constituent Assembly that would draft the new constitution to be chosen from provincial and city councils, where Buddhists did well in elections, but Kỳ refused. While Quang seemed unlikely to see eye-to-eye with Kỳ, the Saigon-based Buddhist leader Thich Tam Chau appeared open to an accommodation with Kỳ. ==Military threats by Kỳ and ongoing unrest==

On April 1, Kỳ despatched General Pham Xuan Chieu to I Corps in an attempt to get Thi to rally to the Saigon junta. However, when Chieu entered Huế, he was ambushed by a group of anti-Kỳ students, who captured him and transported him around the city in a cyclo before releasing him. On the public holiday that commemorates Emperor Hung Vuong, the legendary founder of Vietnam, Saigon's Buddhists used a trick to stage protests against Kỳ and Thiệu's junta. They asked for a permit for a public gathering to celebrate the occasion at the market, and were granted approval on the grounds that at most 600 people took part and that no anti-government sentiment was expressed. However, a few thousand people turned up to the event and then erected pictures of Kỳ and the senior junta generals on the posts used for public executions, adding a poster that read: "This is the plaza of demagogy. Kỳ, Thiệu and Co. must be executed." On April 5, Ky flew into Da Nang to take command of the operation in an attempt to intimidate the dissident forces into submission. However, his presence provoked further local opposition among both the military and civilian elements in the city. General Chuan deployed his forces to block all the routes leaving Da Nang Air Base, and informed Ky that his forces would not be deployed outside the base, and that there would be violence if they attempted to do so. Ky was then forced into an embarrassing announcement that he was withdrawing his forces to Saigon and apologised to the people of Da Nang for accusing them or being communists. Meanwhile, civil unrest continued in the cities of South Vietnam. Around 5,000 turned out in Huế to demonstrate, while another 10,000 took to the streets of Da Nang. A mob of 10,000 looted government buildings in the south central coast town of Qui Nhơn, while some 2,000 soldiers as well as some senior officers demonstrated. Chau took a moderate line on the matter of the constitution, however, Quang refused and the protests continued. Walt was caught between the two Vietnamese military factions. While the Johnson administration maintained a low-key approach during this period of stalemate and tension, many American commentators and cartoonists blamed Johnson for situation, saying that his overt enthusiasm and support of Kỳ had made the South Vietnamese people view him as an American puppet. Johnson complained that Kỳ's remark to the press that he have the mayor of Danang shot for supporting Thi showed "bad judgement" and wanted to know if there was any other examples of Kỳ's "bad judgement". General Maxwell Taylor told Johnson that while he was serving as ambassador to South Vietnam in 1964 that Kỳ had expressed "tremendous admiration" for Adolf Hitler "but I thought he had matured" since then. Johnson's National Security Adviser, Walt Whitman Rostow gave Johnson an analogy from Russian history, stating the Struggle Movement were the Vietnamese equivalents of Right Socialist Revolutionary Alexander Kerensky while the Viet Cong were the equivalent of Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks; Rostow argued that just as Kerensky was unable to prevent the overthrow of the Provisional Government in 1917 by the Bolsheviks, so too would the Struggle Movement being unable to stop the Viet Cong from overthrowing them if they should come to power. Thus, Rostow concluded that the United States had to support the rightist Kỳ's efforts to crush the Struggle Movement as it was the only way of preventing the Communists from coming to power, despite the reports that Kỳ was extremely unpopular with the South Vietnamese people. As Rostow was Johnson's favorite foreign policy adviser, his advice to support Kỳ was decisive. == Đính takes command of I Corps ==

When General Chuan, the I Corps Commander, asked for the marines to be withdrawn from Da Nang, the others on the ten-man junta unanimously removed him; he also voted for his own ouster. Kỳ replaced him with General Tôn Thất Đính. On April 19, clashes erupted in Quảng Ngãi between the Buddhists and the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDĐ, Vietnamese Nationalist Party), who supported the continuation of the anti-communist war, prompting Đính to forcibly restrain the two groups. However, the easing tensions did not last. Kỳ was still looking to make a show of force. Kỳ eventually quelled the rebellion and briefly jailed Đính. == Military climax ==

Later on the morning of May 15, two VNAF aircraft loyal to Kỳ strafed rebel ARVN units located near US Marine positions to the north of Da Nang. The next day, Cao, accompanied by Colonel Archelaus L. Hamblen, the senior U.S. Army advisor in I Corps, and Brigadier general Jonas M. Platt, Chief of Staff to III MAF, flew to Huế to visit the headquarters of ARVN 1st Division. A hostile pro-Buddhist crowd rioted and broke into the division's command post as Cao prepared to depart south for Da Nang. As the American helicopter lifted off, a pro-Buddhist ARVN lieutenant hit it with two pistol shots. In response, the US Army door gunner fired a burst that killed the lieutenant and wounded two adjacent soldiers. Struggle Movement supporters railed against the Americans for what they regarded as inappropriate interference in internal South Vietnamese dispute. The meeting resulted in the deposed general agreeing to leave the region for the good of the country. Before his departure for exile, Thi tried to convince Cao to return corps command. Cao, refused, fearing for his family's safety, and asked Westmoreland for asylum in America, saying that he wanted "to become an American citizen, to join the Marines or Army, to fight against the Communists" after returning to Vietnam. Kỳ's junta then appointed General Hoàng Xuân Lãm to replace Cao. The new corps commanders then focused on fighting the communists instead of other ARVN units and the Americans. == Victory for Kỳ ==

By the end of May, the marines under Kỳ's command finally broken the remaining pockets of rebel soldiers and Buddhist militants in Da Nang, the Buddhist fighters managed to hold out for four hours against government ground assaults at Tan Ninh Pagoda. On May 26, a large pro-Buddhist crowd attended the funeral of the rebel ARVN lieutenant who was killed after shooting at General Cao's departing helicopter. Afterward, the protestors rioted and burned down the US Information Service Library. The ARVN 1st Division sent guards to protect the US Consulate in Huế, but they fled when an anti-Kỳ mob rioted and overran the mission, setting it ablaze. With the assistance of the Americans, Kỳ sent Vietnamese marine and airborne battalions to Phu Bai Combat Base south of Huế. By June 19, the old imperial capital was under government control. Lodge publicly praised Kỳ regime for suppressing the Struggle Movement, calling it "a solid political victory". However, he then called for the resignations of Kỳ and Thiệu within 48 hours, threatening that all Buddhist monks would otherwise nominate for "voluntary imprisonment". Around 150 Vietnamese from both factions were killed in the uprising; another 700 were wounded. The Americans suffered 23 wounded, 18 of them marines. == References ==