Diem had shown strong favouritism towards his fellow Catholics and discrimination against Buddhists in the army, public service and distribution of government aid.
Discontent with Diệm exploded into mass protest in Huế during the summer of 1963 when nine Buddhists died at the hand of Diem's army and police on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha.
He claimed all parties were responsible, the demonstrators for (as he alleged) trying to take over the radio station, the government for deploying the army, which later opened fire, and "agitators" for throwing the explosives.
[6] As a result, Buddhist protests were held across the country and steadily grew in size, asking for the signing of a Joint Communique to end religious inequality.
After a delay of one day due to the need of the frail eighty-year-old Thích Tịnh Khiết to rest from the long journey south; Diệm's committee met with the Buddhists on 14 June.
[12] During the negotiations, Thích Tịnh Khiết issued a nationwide plea to urge Buddhists to avoid any actions that could endanger the talks while Diệm ordered government officials to remove all barriers around the temples.
The agreement stated the "normal and purely religious activity" could go unhindered without the need for government permission in pagodas or the headquarters of the General Association of Buddhists.
In an attempt to save face, Diệm signed the agreement directly under a paragraph declaring that "the articles written in this joint communiqué have been approved in principle by me from the beginning", which he added with his own handwriting,[14] thereby implying that he had nothing to concede.
She reputedly called him a "jellyfish" for agreeing to negotiate with the Buddhists, noting that he had militarily crushed the private armies of the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo sects and the Bình Xuyên organized crime gang in 1955, and a coup attempt in 1960.
[15] The joint communiqué was presented to the press on 16 June and Thích Tịnh Khiết thanked Diệm and exhorted the Buddhist community to work with the government in what he optimistically predicted would be a new era of religious harmony.
The New York Times ran a front page headline on 14 June, citing leaked government information that diplomats had privately attacked Diem's handling of the crisis.
It also reported that General Paul Harkins, the head of the US advisory mission in South Vietnam to order his men not to assist ARVN units that were taking action against demonstrators.
This occurred at the time as the surfacing of rumours that South Vietnamese air force Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Đỗ Khắc Mai had begun gauging support among his colleagues for a coup.
[20] Thich Tinh Khiet sent Diệm a letter after the funeral of Thích Quảng Đức, noting the government was not observing the communiqué and that the condition of Buddhists in South Vietnam had deteriorated.
Tho denied the allegation, and Nhu told a reporter: "If anyone is oppressed in this affair, it is the government which has been constantly attacked and whose mouth has been shut with Scotch tape.
"[21] He criticised the agreements through his Republican Youth organization, calling on the population to "resist the indirections [sic] of superstition and fanaticism" and warned against "communists who may abuse the Joint Communique".
[15] Nhu continued to disparage the Buddhists through his English-language mouthpiece, the Times of Vietnam, whose editorial bent was usually taken to be the Ngô family's own personal opinions.
[22] In the meantime the government had quietly informed local officials that the agreements were a "tactical retreat" to buy time before decisive putting down the Buddhist movement.
They had received information that suggested that the agreement was just a government tactic to buy time and wait for the popular anger to die down, before Diệm would arrest the leading Buddhist monks.