[4] Non's political motivation seems to have partly derived from an unswerving loyalty to his brother, and his machinations against the coup's other main figure, Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, caused serious divisions in the Cambodian administration.

Non, who was ultimately to become Minister of the Interior, also created the Sangkum Sathéaranak Râth (the Socio-Republican Party, PSR) as a political organisation to represent the interests of Lon Nol and the officer corps.

In the ongoing Cambodian Civil War, Non appears to have planned to circumvent the influence of the People's Republic of China in the region by seeking help from the Soviet Union and France in achieving a peace settlement.

Non surrounded himself with a coterie of officers who were to have a substantial impact on the political and military conduct of the Republic, such as Lieutenant-Colonels Les Kosem and Chhim Chhuon and a former member of the Pracheachon socialist party, Major Penn Yuth.

[3] The American government, the main supplier of aid to the Republic, began applying increasing pressure on Lon Nol to reduce his brother's influence, concerned about the latter's corruption, lack of moral scruple (combined with unusual ambition and energy) and his suspected implication in bombing and other attacks on his political rivals.

[10] Despite a period in America as the Republic's "Ambassador-at-Large", General Lon Non returned to Cambodia during 1974 and resumed his political activities: John Gunther Dean, the US ambassador, soon complained about Non's "frantic maneuvering", and appealed for US government assistance in controlling him.

[11] He appears to have been responsible for a bizarre last-ditch plot in which a group of students, led by a man named Hem Keth Dara and posing as a faction of the Khmer Rouge (under the title of Monatio, or the 'National Movement') attempted to seize key parts of the city ahead of the actual Communist forces.