Chung Tấn Cang

After General Nguyen Khanh seized power in January 1964, he promoted several young colonels to the rank of "aspirant brigadier general",Kahin, p. 204. including Cang, hoping to solidify his power base.

After the September 1964 coup attempt by General Duong Van Duc failed, As the coup collapsed, Cang, along with fellow Young Turks Ky and Thi among others, appeared with Đức at a news conference where they proclaimed the unity of the South Vietnamese military. They announced a resolution by the armed forces, claiming a united front against corruption,{{cite news |title=Khánh arrests 5 in coup attempt |date=September 17, 1964 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=10}}{{cite news|last=Grose | first = Peter |title=Khánh, Back at the Helm, Lauds Younger Officers |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 15, 1964 |page=1}} vowing to fight communists and remove their sympathizers from the public service, and insisting that there was no coup attempt.{{cite news |title=Coup collapses in Saigon; Khánh forces in power; U.S. pledges full support |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 14, 1964 |page=1}}

In December 1964, the Young Turks among the military junta were prominent in arresting the members of the High National Council—a civilian advisory body—and disbanding it. This led to an angry response from US Ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor, as the US government wanted a civilian presence in the decision-making and political stability. Junta leader General Nguyen Khanh sent the Young Turks, Nguyen Cao Ky, Nguyen Chanh Thi, Nguyen Van Thieu and Cang after Maxwell called a meeting, leading to an infamous confrontation that was later leaked to the media.Kahin, p. 256. Taylor asked the four to sit down and then said "Do all of you understand English?"Langguth, pp. 326–327. The ambassador then angrily denounced the officers. According to Stanley Karnow, Taylor "launched into a tirade, scolding them as if he were still superintendent of West Point and they a group of cadets caught cheating".Karnow, p. 398. He said "I told you all clearly at General Westmoreland's dinner we Americans were tired of coups. Apparently I wasted my words." He said "you have made a real mess. We cannot carry you forever if you do things like this."Moyar (2006), p. 344. Cang and his colleagues were taken aback by Taylor's searing words and felt they had been humiliated,Karnow, p. 399. but they responded to Taylor in a circumlocutory way. They remained calm and did not resort to direct confrontation, trying to justify their actions in the interests of stability and government efficiency.Moyar (2004), p. 770. Cang said "It seems ... we are being treated as though we were guilty. What we did was only for the good of the country."Hammond, p. 117. Later, despite Taylor's pleas to keep the dissolution of the HNC secret in the hope it would be reversed, the Young Turks called a media conference, where they maintained the HNC had been dissolved in the nation's best interests. The quartet vowed to stand firm and not renege on their decision. They also proclaimed their ongoing confidence for Suu and Hương.{{cite magazine| title=South Viet Nam: The U.S. v. the Generals |date=January 1, 1965 |magazine=Time}}

However, relations between Khanh and Taylor continued to deteriorate.Kahin, pp. 295–297. In the first week of February 1965, Taylor told Kỳ—who then passed on the message to colleagues in the junta—that the US was "in no way propping up General Khánh or backing him in any fashion".Kahin, p. 298. Taylor then sent a cable to Washington claiming his words had "fallen on fertile ground". Taylor and his staff in Saigon thought highly of three officers as possible replacements for Khánh: Thiệu, the commander of II Corps; Nguyen Huu Co; and Cang. A US Defense Department report described Cang "a good leader ... anti-communist; friendly towards U.S."Kahin, p. 512. Taylor's encouragement of a coup was not a secret, and had the unwanted side-effect of accelerating coup action from figures not favored by Washington. The likes of Kỳ, Thiệu, Có and Cang were not yet ready to stage a coup, and their preparations were well behind those of the undetected communist agent, Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao, an unstinting plotter. The Young Turks maintained a guarded approach, waiting to see what the other officers would do, rather than boldly taking the initiative.Kahin, p. 299.

When the coup was started by Thao and Phat on February 19, rebel forces surrounded the naval headquarters at the Saigon Naval Shipyard, apparently in an attempt to capture Cang. However this was unsuccessful, and Cang moved the fleet to Nhà Bè Base, downstream on the Saigon River, to prevent the rebels from seizing the ships.{{cite news |title=Hours in an Anxious Saigon: How Anti-Khánh Coup Failed |work=The New York Times |date=February 21, 1965 |page=2}} Thao and Phat's coup attempt collapse but in the midst of the instability, the remaining junta forced Khanh to go into exile.Kahin, pp. 303–315.

• {{Flag|South Vietnam}} :
• 80x80px Officer of the National Order of Vietnam
• 80x80px Navy Distinguished Service Order, First Class
• 80x80px Gallantry Cross
• 80x80px Hazardous Service Medal
• 80x80px Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal, First Class
• 80x80px Leadership Medal, Level Unknown
• 80x80px Training Service Medal, First Class
• 80x80px Civil Actions Medal, First Class
• 80x80px Good Conduct Medal, Third class
• 80x80px Vietnam Campaign Medal
• 80x80px Vietnam Military Service Medal, Class Unknown

• January 1964 South Vietnamese coup
• December 1964 South Vietnamese coup
• 1965 South Vietnamese coup

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | author = Hammond, William M. | title = Public Affairs : The Military and the Media, 1962–1968 | year = 1988 | location = Washington, D.C. | publisher = Center for Military History, United States Army | isbn = 0-16-001673-8 }}
• {{cite book | first = Howard | last = Jones | year = 2003 | title = Death of a Generation: How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 0-19-505286-2 | location = New York City}}
• {{cite book | title = Intervention: How America Became Involved in Vietnam | author = Kahin, George McT. | author-link = George McTurnan Kahin | location = New York City | publisher = Knopf | year = 1986 | isbn = 0-394-54367-X | url = https://archive.org/details/intervention00geor }}
• {{cite book | title = Vietnam: A History | first = Stanley | last = Karnow | author-link = Stanley Karnow | year = 1997 | publisher = Penguin Books | isbn = 0-670-84218-4 | location = New York City }}
• {{cite book | title = Our Vietnam: The War, 1954–1975 | author = Langguth, A. J. | author-link = A. J. Langguth | year = 2000 | publisher = Simon and Schuster | isbn = 0-684-81202-9 | location = New York City | url = https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_f6q3 }}
• {{cite journal | title = Political Monks: The Militant Buddhist Movement during the Vietnam War | author-link = Mark Moyar | last = Moyar | first = Mark | journal = Modern Asian Studies | volume = 38 | issue = 4 | year = 2004 | pages = 749–784 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = New York City, New York | doi = 10.1017/S0026749X04001295 | s2cid = 145723264 }}
• {{cite book | title = Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 | first = Mark | last = Moyar | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 0-521-86911-0 | location = New York City }}
• {{cite book | first = Robert | last = Shaplen | title = The Lost Revolution: Vietnam 1945–1965 | year = 1966 | publisher = André Deutsch | location = London | oclc = 460367485 }}

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