In Saigon's yellow stucco Freedom Palace, South Viet Nam's President Ngo Dinh Diem woke with a start. Mortar shells were falling on the lawn, and paratroopers were assaulting the palace gate.
Tough, zealously anti-Communist Ngo Dinh Diem, 59, had been in tight spots before; he kept his nerve. From guard posts on the grounds and from within the building, Diem's two loyal battalions of palace guards gave as good as they got, turning back truckload after truckload of insurgents trying to charge the gate to the grounds. Diem himself repaired to a radio station that he had thoughtfully installed for just such emergencies. "A group of junior officers revolted at 3 a.m.," he announced. "Liaison with my provincial commanders is temporarily disrupted." He ordered reinforcements to move on Saigon. Then he sat down and prepared to wait it out.
Civilian Stunts. In the streets outside, bullets whined overhead and sprayed against trees and buildings. But a crowd of curious Saigonese nevertheless sauntered up to watch. An old woman riding by in a taxi was hit and killed; her body was dumped near the palace wall. To cheers from the crowd, daredevil youngsters ran out to drag wounded rebel soldiers back to safety.
At 8 a.m. the paratroops brought up three armored cars and two weapons carriers, which slowly circled the palace grounds, blasting away at the guardhouses. Later, four tanks rumbled up and joined the battle, and an ancient 25-pounder, wheeled into action by the rebels, shrouded the scene in black smoke. At noon the paratroopers marshaled a big crowd of civilians and told them to march on the palace. The crowd got as far as the gate, but, when firing broke out from the palace, turned and ran.
Ivory Tower. From his command post near by, Lieut. Colonel Vuang Van Dong, 30, who declared himself "chef de coup d'état," explained what the fighting was all about: "We want to end politics in the army." The rebels' complaint was that Diem's interference was hamstringing the army's efforts to wipe out Communist terrorism. Chimed in a paratroop captain: "All Diem has done in six years in office is indulge in nepotism. He has generals who don't even command a company. He lives in an ivory tower surrounded by his family, so we must depose him. If we allowed things to continue, it is obvious that in a year this country would go Communist."
By midafternoon, with some 20 people already dead, Ngo Dinh Diem still held out in his barricaded palace. Emissaries shuttled back and forth between the two sides. Diem offered to fire his Cabinet but refused the rebel demand that he resign. Diem's stubborn courage began to pay off. Marine, infantry and commando units moved into the city and, after wavering all night, declared their loyalty to him. Outmanned, the paratroopers fled. When a throng of civilians advanced on the palace waving "Diem Must Go" signs, the pro-Diem marines fired point-blank into the packed crowd, killing at least six and wounding dozens. Colonel Dong tried to flee aboard a DC-3 but was forced down and captured.