Nguyễn Chánh Thi (; 23 February 1923 – 23 June 2007) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). He is best known for being involved in frequent coups in the 1960s and wielding substantial influence as a key member of various juntas that ruled South Vietnam from 1964 until 1966, when he was overpowered by Republic of Vietnam Air Force chief and Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ in a power struggle and exiled to the United States. Known for his flamboyant style and hostility to US advice, Thi's ousting was supported by the American leadership, who backed Kỳ's pro-US regime.
Thi joined the French Army at the age of 17 and was captured by Japan after they invaded French Indochina during World War II. After several months, he escaped and later transferred to the Vietnamese National Army of the French-backed State of Vietnam, which, in October 1955, became the ARVN and Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), respectively. A paratrooper, he fought for then-Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm against the Bình Xuyên organized crime syndicate in the 1955 Battle for Saigon. Impressed by Thi's performance, Diệm referred to him as his own "son" and put him in command of the Airborne Brigade.
In November 1960, Thi led the paratroopers in a coup against Diệm, citing political interference in the military. The rebels gained the upper hand but Thi was reluctant to push for a complete victory, and the coup was defeated after Diệm falsely promised to make reforms in order to buy time for loyalists to rescue him. Thi fled into exile in Cambodia, but returned after Diệm was deposed and executed in November 1963. He became the deputy commander of the I Corps under Nguyễn Khánh, and helped his superior to overthrow Diệm's subjugators three months later. Thi became the commander of the 1st Division, before taking control of I Corps later in the year.
During the year after Khánh's rise to power, Thi helped Khánh stage or put down several coup attempts, making him a key player in South Vietnamese military politics. In September 1964, he and Kỳ helped rescue Khánh from a coup attempt by two disgruntled Catholic pro-Diệm generals, Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức. This gave Kỳ and Thi increased leverage in the junta. Two months later, he was prominent in shutting down a junta-appointed civilian advisory body after they disapproved of a plan by younger officers to compulsorily retire old generals. In January 1965, he helped Khánh depose Prime Minister Trần Văn Hương, but by this time he had turned against Khánh. In February 1965, he helped defeat a coup attempt by Phát and Phạm Ngọc Thảo, and helped to force Khánh's resignation at the same time. Over the next year, Kỳ and Thi were the foremost officers in the junta, and in June 1965, Thi declined an opportunity to serve as prime minister after being nominated by his fellow officers following the resignation of Phan Huy Quát. Thi wanted to let a rival take the job and then step in after he had failed, but never received a second opportunity.
Thi oversaw I Corps with a great deal of autonomy, and the other officers felt threatened, which was accentuated by his alignment with Buddhist activist movements in his region, traditionally a Buddhist stronghold. The Buddhists were opposed to expansion of the Vietnam War and the American leadership viewed Thi negatively. In early 1966, feeling more confident about his hold on power, Kỳ orchestrated Thi's removal, and announced that Thi would be going to the US for medical treatment, but in reality into exile. Thi refused to go along with Kỳ's false story and wanted to stay in Vietnam, and this led to civil unrest in I Corps, where Thi was popular. The disquiet escalated into open rebellion by pro-Thi military units, allied to Buddhist anti-junta activists calling for civilian government and an end to the US-driven war expansion policy. After three months of virtual secession, Kỳ's forces quelled the dissidents, and Thi emigrated to the US, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Early life Thi was born on 23 February 1923 in Huế, then the capital of Vietnam and the seat of the Nguyễn dynasty. At the time, Vietnam was part of the colony of French Indochina and his father was a low-level mandarin in the French-controlled monarchy and had served in the French Army during World War I. Thi joined the French Army at 17; a few months later, Imperial Japan invaded Indochina during World War II, wresting control from France.Jacobs, pp. 26–40. Thi was a Japanese prisoner of war for several months until he escaped amidst the confusion of an Allied bombing raid on the Japanese military jail. According to family documents, Thi was captured and imprisoned by the communist Viet Minh of Ho Chi Minh for three months at the end of the war in 1945 as they declared independence during the August Revolution. At the time, a power vacuum emerged as the defeated Japanese withdrew from Vietnam. France attempted to reassert its colonial grip over Indochina, while various Vietnamese groups jockeyed for power at the head of an independent country. In 1946, full-scale conflict erupted between the Vietminh, who had declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) independent, and France. As part of their political effort, the French created the State of Vietnam (SoV), an associated state in the French Union, and installed former Emperor Bảo Đại as the head of state. Thi served in the SoV's Vietnamese National Army (VNA), and rose steadily up the ranks.
Diệm era
In 1954, the Vietminh defeated the French Union forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and France decided to withdraw from Vietnam. Under the provisions of the Geneva Accords, the Vietminh's DRV would take control of the northern half of the country, and the SoV the south, pending national reunification elections in 1956.Jacobs, pp. 43–44. In the meantime, the State of Vietnam remained unstable. The Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo religious sects had their own private armies and de facto states in the Mekong Delta, while the Bình Xuyên organized crime syndicate controlled the national police, had their own military, and dominated the rampant drug trade, prostitution and illegal gambling in the southern capital Saigon.Jacobs, pp. 61–62. In April and May 1955, Thi fought in VNA airborne units for Prime Minister Diệm against the Binh Xuyen in the Battle for Saigon after Diệm gave them an ultimatum to surrender. When they did not, the VNA attacked and decisively dispersed the Binh Xuyen after a few days of heavy street fighting. This performance so impressed the lifelong bachelor Diệm that he thereafter referred to Thi as his "son".Halberstam, p. 23. Diệm promoted Thi to the rank of colonel and put him in charge of the Airborne Brigade, which was expanded into a division a few years later. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was not as impressed. One of their reports described Thi as "an opportunist and a man lacking strong convictions".Moyar (2006), p. 109. An American military advisor assessed Thi as "tough, unscrupulous, and fearless, but dumb". In October 1955, Diệm deposed Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum overseen by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu and declared himself President of the newly proclaimed Republic of Vietnam. The VNA thus became the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and after Diệm canceled the reunification elections, the Vietnam War ensued.Jacobs, pp. 90–100.
Failed coup against Diệm
In 1960, Thi led a revolt against Diệm after lobbying by his Airborne Division deputy commander, Lieutenant Colonel Vương Văn Đông. Đông had become discontented with Diệm's arbitrary rule and constant meddling in military affairs. Diệm, who promoted officers on religion and loyalty, rather than skill, gave orders directly to individual commanders, and played senior officers against one another in order to weaken the military leadership and prevent them from becoming effective, lest they try to challenge his rule. Đông later stated his sole objective was to force Diệm to improve the governance of the country. Đông was clandestinely supported by his brother-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyễn Triệu Hồng, and Hong's uncle, Hoang Co Thuy, members of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDĐ, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party), which was an anti-communist political organization whose members had been marginalized by Diệm.Hammer (1987), p. 131. The coup was organized with the help of some VNQDĐ and Đại Việt Quốc Dân Đảng (Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam, known as Đại Việt) members, civilians and officers alike. Đông enlisted the cooperation of an armored regiment, a marine unit and three paratrooper battalions. The operation was launched on 11 November at 05:00. The coup was executed ineffectually; although the rebels captured the headquarters of the Joint General Staff at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, they failed to block the roads leading into Saigon and cut off loyalist reinforcements. Thi's men also failed to disconnect phone lines into the palace, which allowed Diệm to appeal for aid from loyal units. After taking the key military points, the paratroopers headed towards Independence Palace. At first, they did not attack, believing that Diệm would capitulate.Karnow, pp. 252–53. Most of Thi's soldiers had been tricked into thinking that they were attacking in order to save Diệm from a Presidential Guard mutiny. When the attack finally started, Diệm was nearly killed in the opening salvoes when gunfire hit his bed, but he had arisen just a few minutes earlier. Despite their numerical advantage, the paratroopers' first assault was repelled by the loyalists. Thi and Dong held fire; they brought in reinforcements and attacked again, but the loyalists held firm. In the meantime, Thi's rebels had captured the national police offices, the studios of Radio Saigon and the Presidential Guard barracks. They had also put most of the Saigon-based generals under house arrest.Moyar (2006), p. 110.
Apparently poised for a military victory, the rebels hesitated. Đông wanted to storm the palace and capture the president and his family. Thi felt that despite Diệm's shortcomings, he was South Vietnam's best available leader and thus was worried Diệm could be killed in an attack. Thi thought that enforced reform was the best outcome. The rebels wanted Nhu, Diệm's younger brother and chief advisor, and his wife, Madame Nhu, who were widely regarded as the powers behind Diệm's rule, out of the government, although they disagreed over whether to assassinate or deport the couple.Jacobs, p. 117. Thi demanded that Diệm appoint an officer as Prime Minister and remove Madame Nhu from the palace. Saigon Radio broadcast a speech authorized by Thi's Revolutionary Council, claiming that Diệm was being removed for corruption and suppression of liberty. Worried by the uprising, Diệm sent representatives to negotiate.Langguth, pp. 108–09.Moyar (2006), p. 111. After lengthy talks, the parties agreed to a ceasefire.Moyar (2006), p. 112. In the meantime, loyalist forces headed towards the capital. Diệm promised to end press censorship, liberalize the economy, and hold free and fair elections. Diệm refused to sack Nhu, but agreed to dissolve the cabinet and form a new government which would accommodate members of the Revolutionary Council. In the early hours of 12 November, Diệm taped a speech detailing the concessions, and Thi broadcast the message on Saigon Radio.Jacobs, p. 118.