GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Former South Vietnamese general Khanh Nguyen, who briefly gained control of the government in a coup and went on to lead a "government in exile" in California, has died.
Nguyen's successor Chanh Nguyen Huu says the former general died Jan. 11 at a San Jose hospital after struggling with diabetes. He was 86.
In 1960, Nguyen helped stop a coup against U.S.-backed president Ngo Dinh Diem when he mistook rebels for Viet Cong soldiers and rushed to the president's defense.
South Vietnamese generals overthrew Diem's regime three years later and started a period of political turmoil.
Nguyen himself took over the government in a 1964 coup, but left Vietnam the following year when other generals forced him out.
He lived in France for years before settling in California in 1977.
©2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
