Buddhist Uprising Begins in South Vietnam

On May 8, a crowd of Buddhists gathers in Hue to listen to a radio broadcast in recognition of Wesak Day, the anniversary of Buddha’s birth. When the radio broadcast fails to play, the crowd becomes restless, tearing down a South Vietnamese national flag and replacing it with a flag of international Buddhism. Soon, South Vietnamese police and soldiers arrive to quell the commotion, and gunfire erupts, killing a total of nine protesters.

The demonstration and repression galvanize other discontented groups into actions. On June 11, 1963 a Buddhist monk sets himself on fire in protest at a busy intersection in Saigon. Buddhist leadership tips off the foreign press and an American photo of the incident circulates worldwide. President Diem’s sister-in-law, Madam Nhu, provokes greater anger with callus remarks about this incident. And in August 1963, Diem’s brother Ngo Dinh Nhu raids Buddhist pagodas, arresting some 1,400 Buddhists in South Vietnam using U.S.-trained South Vietnamese special forces and placing them in already overcrowded prisons.1

United States officials are appalled by the Ngos’ behavior and at first try to force reconciliation. When this does not work, South Vietnamese Army generals, also discontent, ask the United States how it would respond in the event of a coup. With some disagreement among top U.S. officials, the Kennedy administration eventually makes it clear that while it would not participate in a coup, it would support another government in the event that Diem is overthrown.