Ngo Dinh Diem, the first President of the Republic of Vietnam, was assassinated on November 2, 1963, in a coup led by his own generals. Diem had grown increasingly unpopular largely because of his imprisonment and execution of hundreds of Buddhists, and the United States, which previously backed Diem's regime, had apparently grown weary of their association with such an unpopular leader as they made no attempts to discourage the assassins and, according to some reports, perhaps even encouraged them. Soon after Diem's death, general Nguyen Khanh seized power in Saigon in a bloodless coup. Major General Duong Van Minh, who was believed to have planned Diem's assassination, was placed under house arrest, but remained in the circle of power as chief-of-staff. In 1975, he would briefly serve as President of South Vietnam before the fall of Saigon.