Ngô Đình Cẩn (; 1911 – 9 May 1964) was the younger brother and confidant of
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
's first president,
Ngô Đình Diệm
Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam ( Republic of ...
, and an important member of the Diệm government. Diệm put Cẩn in charge of central Vietnam, stretching from
Phan Thiết in the south to the border at the
17th parallel, with Cẩn ruling the region as a virtual
dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...
. Based in the former imperial capital of
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
, Cẩn operated
private armies
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
and
secret police
image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression.
Secre ...
that controlled the central region and earned himself a reputation as the most oppressive of the Ngô brothers.
In his youth, Cẩn was a follower of the nationalist
Phan Bội Châu
Phan Bội Châu (; 26 December 1867 – 29 October 1940), born Phan Văn San, courtesy name Hải Thụ (later changed to Sào Nam), was a pioneer of 20th century Vietnamese nationalism. In 1904, he formed a revolutionary organization called ...
. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he worked to organise support for Diệm as various Vietnamese groups and international powers sought to stamp their authority over Vietnam. Cẩn, who succeeded in eliminating alternative nationalist opposition in central Vietnam, became the warlord of the region when his brother became president of the southern half of the
partitioned nation in 1955. He became notorious for his involvement in smuggling and corruption, as well as his autocratic rule. Cẩn was regarded as an effective leader against the
Viet Cong
The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...
communist insurgency, which was much weaker in central Vietnam than in other parts of South Vietnam. His Popular Force militia was regarded by US officials in central Vietnam as a successful counter to the communists.
Cẩn's influence began to wane after his elder brother
Ngô Đình Thục was appointed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế. Thục overshadowed Cẩn and aggressively promoted
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, which led to the banning of the
Buddhist flag
The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century as a universal symbol of Buddhism. The flag's five vertical bands represent the Prabashvara, five colors of the aura (paranormal), aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body ...
in 1963 during
Vesak
Vesak (; Sanskrit: '), also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, Visak Bochea and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhism, Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as in Tibet and Mongolia. It is among the ...
, the celebration of the birthday of
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
. Cẩn's forces
opened fire on a crowd who were protesting the ban, killing nine and precipitating the
Buddhist crisis. Ongoing demonstrations intensified throughout the summer as the regime responded with increased brutality, sparking the toppling of the Diệm regime in a
November 1963 coup. Cẩn had been offered asylum by the
US Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
, but ambassador
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate and served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the administration of Pre ...
had
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
officer
Lucien Conein arrest the fallen Ngô in Saigon. Cẩn was turned over to the
military junta
A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...
, which tried and executed him in 1964.
Early years
Cẩn was the fifth of six sons born to
Ngô Đình Khả, who was a
mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
in the imperial court of Emperor
Thành Thái, who was ruling under French control.
[Jacobs, pp. 18–19.][Tucker, pp. 288–93.]
Khả retired from the court in protest at French interference, taking up farming.
Cẩn's first and third brothers –
Ngô Đình Khôi and Diệm – rose to become provincial governors under French rule. Diệm, like his father, resigned in protest in 1933, while Khôi was assassinated in 1945 by
Hồ Chí Minh
(born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first president of the Democratic Republic ...
's cadres.
The second brother,
Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục, was appointed as the
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
Archbishop of Huế. A fourth brother
Ngô Đình Nhu became the family's chief political strategist, while the youngest,
Ngô Đình Luyện was a diplomat when the family held power in
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
. Of the Ngô brothers, only Thục and Luyện avoided being executed or assassinated during Vietnam's political upheavals.
Details about Cẩn's early life are scarce. In his youth, he had studied the writings and opinions of the renowned anti-French Vietnamese nationalist
Phan Bội Châu
Phan Bội Châu (; 26 December 1867 – 29 October 1940), born Phan Văn San, courtesy name Hải Thụ (later changed to Sào Nam), was a pioneer of 20th century Vietnamese nationalism. In 1904, he formed a revolutionary organization called ...
, who spent his last years in Huế.
Regarded as the leading revolutionary of his time, Châu had been captured and sentenced to death, before having his sentence reduced to house arrest. Cẩn regularly traveled to Châu's
sampan on the
Perfume River with gifts of food and listened to Châu's political lectures.
[Hammer, p. 114.] Regarded as the least educated of his family, Cẩn had never traveled outside Vietnam and was the only Ngô brother not to have studied at a European-run institution.
Vietnam was in chaos after the Japanese invaded the country during World War II and displaced the French colonial administration. At the end of the war, the Japanese left the country, and France, severely weakened by political turmoil within the
Vichy regime
Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...
, was unable to exert control. Hồ Chí Minh's
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...
declared independence as the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...
and battled other Vietnamese nationalist groups as well as French forces for control of the nation.
[Jacobs, pp. 22–25.] During this time, Cẩn organised a clandestine support base for Diệm in central Vietnam.
At the time, Diệm was one of many nationalists who were attempting to stake a claim to national leadership, having spent a decade in self-imposed exile from public affairs.
Cẩn helped weaken other anti-communist nationalist groups, such as the
Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (Vietnamese Nationalist Party) and the
Đại Việt Quốc Dân Đảng (Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam), which competed with Diệm for support.
On 23 October 1955, Diệm toppled
Bảo Đại
Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , , 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc (Phước) Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was ''de jure'' em ...
in a
fraud-ridden referendum orchestrated by Nhu. Diệm declared himself President of the newly proclaimed
Republic of Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with it ...
three days later.
Cẩn's men helped to cower the populace into voting for his brother. Those who disobeyed were often chased down and beaten, with
pepper sauce and water often forced down their nostrils.
[Karnow, p. 239.][Jacobs, p. 95.] The violations were particularly flagrant in Cẩn's area,
[Miller, p. 207.] which was the home of the
Nguyễn dynasty
The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...
and a source of sympathy towards Bảo Đại.
[ Cẩn ordered the police to arrest 1,200 people for political reasons in the week leading up to the vote.][ In Hội An, some people were killed in election day violence.][Miller, p. 208.]
Rule
With Diệm's ascent to the leadership of South Vietnam in 1955, Cẩn's stock rose. Cẩn had no formal position in the government but was effectively regarded as the warlord of central Vietnam. He had almost unlimited power in the region, often interfering with army operations against the Viet Cong
The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...
in a style described as "feudal". Robert Scigliano, a journalist and academic from the Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group, asserted that Cẩn, along with Nhu, Madame Nhu
Trần Lệ Xuân (; 22 August 1924 – 24 April 2011), more popularly known in English as Madame Nhu, was the ''de facto'' First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngô Đình Nhu, who was the brother and chief adviso ...
and eldest brother Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục formed "an extralegal elite which, with Diệm, directs the destiny of Vietnam". Cẩn sometimes vetoed government-appointed officials posted to central Vietnam from Saigon.
Cẩn ran his own personal army and secret police, which fought the Viet Cong and imprisoned other anti-communist political opponents. Cẩn accumulated great wealth through corrupt practices such as graft
Graft or grafting may refer to:
*Graft (politics), a form of political corruption
*Graft, Netherlands, a village in the municipality of Graft-De Rijp
Science and technology
*Graft (surgery), a surgical procedure
*Grafting, the joining of plant ti ...
in awarding foreign aid
In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. The ...
contracts from the United States governments of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
and John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
to Vietnamese businessmen. He required the businessmen to pay a fee to the National Revolutionary Movement – the official party of the regime – in return for the processing of applications for foreign aid contracts and import licenses. Cẩn was widely believed to be selling rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
to North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...
on the black market
A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...
, as well as organising the trafficking
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...
of opium
Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...
throughout Asia via Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
, and monopolising the cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...
trade.[Buttinger, pp. 954–55.]
He was often in conflict with his brothers regarding internal matters, with Nhu, Diệm's most influential adviser, controlling the southern part of the country. The brothers often competed with each other for US aid contracts and the rice trade, but did not interfere with matters in one another's territorial zone.[Karnow, p. 246.] Cẩn had once tried to set up an office for his secret police in Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025.
The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
(which was in Nhu's southern region) by showing Diệm his long list of detained political opponents, but insisted that he not have to report to Nhu.[Langguth, p. 99.] He brutally suppressed dissent by using torture and re-education camps to achieve his aims. Comparing Cẩn to his brothers, Scigliano said that he was "also considered the most severe, some would say primitive, member of the family and he rules his domain with a strict and sometimes brutal hand". Referring to his autocratic style, a Vietnamese critic said that unlike Diệm, Cẩn was consistent and left his followers in no doubt as to what he wanted: "They are not confused by double talk about democratic ideals and institutions". His creation of a well-defined system of incentives and deterrence has been cited as one reason for his success.[Buttinger, pp. 1149–50.]
Anti-communism
In spite of his autocracy and iron rule, Cẩn earned praise from Huế-based US officials for his relatively high levels of success against the Cong san insurgency. Cẩn's central region was much more peaceful than the restive areas near Saigon and the Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...
. Cẩn created the Popular Force organisation to operate in central Vietnam. The Popular Force was an alternative to the Strategic Hamlet Program which was used on a much larger scale in the south by Nhu, who moved peasants into fortified camps in an attempt to isolate Viet Cong cadres from accessing the rural populace and intimidating or otherwise gaining their support. Cẩn assumed a third or so of the rural peasantry were Viet Cong sympathisers, significant enough to render the hamlets ineffective by intimidating other villagers from within. Cẩn's Popular Force were a group of volunteers who underwent rigorous training similar to United States Marine Corps Recruit Training. Those who passed the training were put into units of 150 men and assigned to live and work in the villages by day. At night, they did defence patrols, using hit-and-run tactics against the Viet Cong. According to the report by US officials in central Vietnam, the program aroused popular support because of the integration of the Popular Force's personnel into the daily life of the village and the sense of security that the force provided. The units were generally regarded as being successful in their six-month deployments, allowing them to be deployed to the next trouble spot.[Jones, p. 205.] Officials in Washington disagreed with the assessment of their subordinates in central Vietnam, alleging that Cẩn was mainly using the Popular Force for repressing dissidents.
Buddhist crisis
Cẩn was considered the most secular of the four Ngô brothers who controlled Vietnam's domestic affairs. With the appointment of elder brother Thục as the Archbishop of Huế in 1961, Cẩn became less influential as Thục aggressively blurred the distinction between church and state. In early 1963, Nhu sent an emissary from Saigon telling Cẩn to retire and leave for Japan. Unrest erupted in the summer of 1963. After the flying of Vatican flags was permitted at a celebration for the anniversary of Thục's consecration as a bishop, the flying of Buddhist flag
The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century as a universal symbol of Buddhism. The flag's five vertical bands represent the Prabashvara, five colors of the aura (paranormal), aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body ...
s on 8 May to commemorate Vesak
Vesak (; Sanskrit: '), also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, Visak Bochea and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhism, Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as in Tibet and Mongolia. It is among the ...
– the birth of Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
– was banned. Cẩn's subordinates ordered government forces to fire on the unarmed Buddhist crowd protesting the ban, killing nine. Cẩn believed the United States, whose relations with South Vietnam had become strained, caused an explosion during the Vesak shootings, to destabilise his family's regime.
Another notable religious incident occurred in the central region under Cẩn's rule in 1963. An oversized carp
The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...
was found swimming in a small pond near the central city of Đà Nẵng
Da Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons (, ) is the list of cities in Vietnam, fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the Western Pacific Ocean of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River (Vietnam), Hàn R ...
. Local Buddhists began to believe that the fish was a reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new lifespan (disambiguation), lifespan in a different physical ...
of one of Gautama Buddha's disciples. As pilgrimages to the pond became larger and more frequent, so did disquiet among Cẩn's district chief and his subordinates. The local law enforcement agencies mined the pond, but the fish survived. They raked the pond with machine gun fire, but the fish again survived. To deal with the tenacious fish, they called in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces, led by Colonel Lê Quang Tung under the direction of Nhu. The grenading of the pond finally killed the carp. The killing had the unintended effect of increasing the public profile of the carp, with newspapers across the world running stories about the miraculous fish. Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...
(ARVN) helicopters began landing at the site, with paratroopers filling their bottles with water that they believed to be magical.[Prochnau, p. 411.]
Downfall and arrest
Sparked by the killings in Huế on Vesak, the Buddhists organised nationwide mass protests against the religious bias of the Diệm regime throughout the summer of 1963, demanding religious equality.[Tucker, pp. 288–89.] The protests were met with brutal crackdowns, including ARVN Special Forces attacks on Buddhist pagodas which left hundreds missing, presumed dead. As public discontent heightened, a group of ARVN officers planned and carried out a US-backed coup in November. This came about after Cẩn's protégé Tôn Thất Đính switched sides and helped the coup when his corps was expected to remain loyal. Diệm and Nhu were executed at the conclusion of the coup.
Following the downfall of the Ngô family, the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
came under pressure from the South Vietnamese public to take a hard line against Cẩn. Mass graves containing 200 bodies were found on his land. The US consul in Huế, John Helble, confirmed the existence of rows of 18th-century style dungeons with filthy, dark cells in an old French arsenal. Although junta member General Trần Văn Đôn asserted that the compound predated the Diệm era, the town's citizens saw Cẩn as a mass murderer. On 4 November, two days after the coup ended, thousands of irate townspeople walked three kilometres to Cẩn's house on the city's southern outskirts – where he lived with his aged mother – demanding vengeance. The junta had ringed the home with barbed wire and armoured cars, sensing that the populace would riot and attack Cẩn. By this time, Cẩn had escaped to a Catholic seminary, but was considering applying to the Americans for political asylum. The US State Department was faced with a dilemma: sheltering Cẩn would associate them with the protection of a corrupt and authoritarian regime that had tortured and killed thousands of its own people. Allowing Cẩn to be attacked by angry mobs would damage the reputation of the new American-backed junta. The State Department instructed:
The White House sent a cable to the US Embassy, Saigon on 4 November agreeing that Cẩn and his mother needed evacuation. General Đỗ Cao Trí, the commander of the ARVN I Corps, who had repressed the Buddhists in Huế, privately told Cẩn that the junta would allow him safe passage out of Vietnam. On 5 November, Cẩn sought refuge at the US consulate with a suitcase crammed with US currency. Trí was then told that Cẩn was not safe in Huế and that he was to send Cẩn to Saigon immediately for his own protection. Trí would only promise safe passage in an American plane to Saigon, where embassy officials would meet Cẩn. On the journey to the capital, Cẩn was accompanied by four Americans: a vice-consul, two military police
Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...
men and a lieutenant colonel.[Jones, p. 433.] He had intended to seek asylum in Japan.[Hammer, pp. 305–06.]
US ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. had other ideas. Instead of sending embassy officials to Tân Sơn Nhứt airport, Lodge sent CIA officer Lucien Conein, who had helped the Vietnamese generals to plan the coup. Conein turned Cẩn over to the junta. Lodge said that General Đôn had promised that Cẩn would be dealt with "legally and judicially". The ambassador told Washington that asylum was unnecessary, saying "It seems to me that our reason for giving him asylum therefore no longer exists". He said that the US could not interfere with justice, since Cẩn was "undoubtedly a reprehensible figure who deserves all the loathing which he now receives". Lodge reasoned that since Cẩn would not be killed, protecting him would give the impression that the US backed his activities. Lodge said that General Dương Văn Minh
Dương Văn Minh (; 16 February 19166 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ngô Đình Diệm. ...
, who was the President, implied that Cẩn would receive clemency even if sentenced to death. This contradicted Conein's assertion that the ARVN officer corps felt that Cẩn should be executed. Cẩn's case was damaged by the release of tens of thousands of political prisoners, who recounted tales of torture at the hands of the Ngô brothers.[Jones, p. 434.]
Trial and execution
It was reported that General Nguyễn Khánh – who had deposed Minh in a January 1964 coup – offered Cẩn exile if he handed over his foreign bank deposits. Cẩn protested, saying that he had no money. Đôn later claimed that Khánh would have executed Cẩn anyway, as Cẩn would have known of the corruption that the generals were party to.[Hammer, pp. 306–07.] During the Ngô era, Khánh commanded the ARVN II Corps, which had operated in the Central Highlands under Cẩn's supervision. Despite having helped to arrest Cẩn, Lodge advised Khánh to be restrained in his handling of the case for fear of stoking religious resentment or upsetting international opinion with a death penalty.[McAllister, p. 760.]
Lodge later claimed the South Vietnamese prosecutors failed to make any case against Cẩn. The Vietnamese leader also had to contend with the other side of the arguments, from those who considered themselves to be victims of the Diệm regime.[ During the trial, Thích Trí Quang, along with other opponents of the old regime, lobbied for a death sentence for Cẩn.][ He argued that if Cẩn lived, he could regain power along with his late brothers' supporters. He told Lodge that if the Americans did not support a tough sentence, then the Vietnamese Buddhist community's opinion of Washington would fall.][ Lodge was initially critical of Quang's campaigning against Cẩn.][McAllister, p. 778.] Cẩn was sentenced to death. He appealed to the head of state for clemency; his lawyers used a provision in the legal code to make the appeal. This placed Minhwho was still the titular head of statein the position of approving a third death in the Ngô family, having already ordered his bodyguard Nguyễn Văn Nhung to execute Diệm and Nhu during the coup.
Cẩn's diabetes
Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
worsened during the course of the trial, and by the time he was executed, his elderly mother had died. He suffered a heart attack while in custody. On 9 May 1964, he was carried on a stretcher into the prison courtyard and assisted by guards and two Catholic priests to stand alongside the post to which he was tied. He was blindfolded against his request and shot in front of approximately 200 observers. Lodge defended his actions, claiming the United States did all it could to prevent the execution. The ambassador claimed Cẩn would have been allowed to seek refuge at the US embassy, despite the fact that he had ordered Conein to intercept Cẩn at the airport. Rev. Cao Văn Luân, Catholic rector of Huế University
Huế University () is a public, research-oriented university system located in Huế, the former imperial capital of Vietnam; it is one of the important regional universities of Vietnam. In Vietnam, universities are classified into two classes: u ...
who had been fired for falling afoul of the powerful Archbishop Thục, asked Lodge that Cẩn not be executed. According to Luân, Lodge reportedly assured the rector the execution would not take place. Cẩn left his personal fortune, which had indeed been deposited in foreign banks, to Catholic charities.[Langguth, p. 258.]
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngo, Dinh Can
1911 births
1964 deaths
Ngo family
People from Huế
Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War
Vietnamese Roman Catholics
Executed politicians
Executed Vietnamese people
People executed by South Vietnam by firearm
Vietnamese anti-communists