The Vũng Tàu Charter (Hiến chương Vũng Tàu) was a provisional new constitution for

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

which was introduced on the 16 August 1964 by General

Nguyễn Khánh Nguyễn Khánh (; 8 November 192711 January 2013) was a South Vietnamese military officer and Army of the Republic of Vietnam general who served in various capacities as head of state and prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a ...

. It was known as the Vũng Tàu Charter from Khanh's preferred coastal residence in

Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu (''Hanoi accent:'' , ''Saigon accent:'' ) is the largest city of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The city area is , consists of 13 urban wards and one commune of Long Sơn Islet. Vũng Tàu was the capital of the pr ...

. The constitution led to the

Buddhist crisis The Buddhist crisis ( vi, Biến cố Phật giáo) was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam between May and November 1963, characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of ...

, large scale protests in the country led by

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

groups, as the constitution reduced civilian representation in the government, gave Khanh the President's role and would have allowed press censorship.Nghia M. Vo ''Saigon: A History'' - Page 146 2011 "The Buddhists demonstrated and demanded the revocation of the Vũng Tàu charter. Under pressure, Khánh gave in to Buddhists' demands. To appease the Buddhists, he had the army remove all its Catholic chaplains. Buddhist Trí Quang pressured Khánh to give

Đặng Sỹ Major Matthew Sy Dang, ( vi, Matheo Đặng Sỹ; July 29, 1929 – November 11, 2006) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He acquired a degree of infamy for ordering his soldiers to open fire on a crowd of Buddhists demonstratin ...

, the Catholic officer who had confronted the Buddhists in Huế, a life sentence. He demanded that Cẩn, Diệm's brother, be put to death, which Khánh did.7 Street demonstrations continued unabated in September and October, forcing markets, stores, and schools to close and disrupting civilian life." This led President Johnson to state that South Vietnam would have to show signs of political cohesion and stability before there would be military intervention against the North.

References

Vietnam War 1964 in Vietnam Political charters 1964 documents {{vietnam-stub