Nguyen Van Thieu
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President Nguyen Van Thieu |
Nguyen Van Thieu, (
April 5,
1923 –
September 29,
2001) was a former General and President of
South Vietnam.
The son of a small landowner, as a patriotic teenager he joined the
Viet Minh, led by
Hồ Chí Minh to liberate Vietnam from French colonialism. He abandoned them after they moved into the Soviet sphere of influence and embraced
Communism.
In
1949, he was educated at the National Military Academy in the former Imperial Capital
Hue. He was commissioned a 2
nd Lieutenant from the first officer candidates' course of the Vietnam National Army which had been created by Emperor
Bảo Đại.
Thieu was an Army
lieutenant-colonel when the
Republic of Vietnam was founded and it recovered full sovereignty after the withdrawal of French forces in
1955, following the
1954 Geneva Agreement.
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President Nguyen Van Thieu visiting a South Vietnamese Children Orphanage, for children whose parents were killed by North Vietnamese Communists |
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President Nguyen Van Thieu sits in on drums for an impromptu musical session during dedication ceremonies for a rehabilitation center built by South Korean army troops. |
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President Nguyen Van Thieu and U.S. President Richard Nixon meet with reporters after announcing the beginning of American troop withdrawals from Vietnam. Thieu felt betrayed by the United States and its earlier commitment to fully eradicate Communist aggression from South Vietnam. |
He served as
South Vietnam's ceremonial
head of state in Prime Minister
Nguyen Cao Ky's government from
1965–
67.
In
September 3,
1967, he ran successfully for the new executive
presidency of South Vietnam earning 38% of the vote and held that position until the
Fall of Saigon, South Vietnam's capital, became imminent in
1975.
Thieu's regime was accused of being far more corrupt than the regime of his predecessor. Unlike Ky, Thieu created a political party and greatly centralized political power in the executive branch at the expense of the elected
congress. Close allies were placed in key ministerial and military posts in order to prevent threats to the president's leadership from emerging.
In
1971, Thieu ran for re-election, but his rumoured reputation for corruption made his political opponents believe the race would be fixed, and declined to run. As the only candidate, Thieu was thus easily re-elected.
In January
1975, North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam at the city of
Da Nang. Nguyen Van Thieu notified President Ford that the North Vietnam had violated the 1973
Paris Peace Accords and asked for 500 million dollars of Aid, but the U.S. Congress would not abide by the 1973
Paris Peace Accords that
Henry Kissinger signed as the Secretary of State. The angered Nguyen Van Thieu stated "But the United States did not keep its word. Is an American's word reliable these days?", "The United States did not keep its promise to help us fight for freedom and it was in the same fight that the United States lost 50,000 of its young men."
The North called this the "Ho Chi Minh Campaign". All resistance crumbled. General Cao Van Vien, ARVN chief of staff, ordered his men to fight to the death, then quickly fled the country. The ARVN tried to defend Xuan Loc, their last chance before Saigon. Even according to the Communists, these men fought very well, but it was not enough.
Just prior to the Communist victory, Nguyen Van Thieu resigned and left for Taiwan, quickly handing power to his readily available Vice President
Tran Van Huong, who took over on
April 21,
1975, nine days before South Vietnam unconditionally surrendered to the North Vietnamese on
April 30, 1975.
Thieu emigrated to
Taiwan, later he settled in
Surrey,
Great Britain. Finally he took up residence in
Newton, Massachusetts, in the
United States, where he died in
2001.
* "Don't listen to what the Communists say, but look at what they do."
* "But the United States did not keep its word. Is an American's word reliable these days?"
* "The United States did not keep its promise to help us fight for freedom and it was in the same fight that the United States lost 50,000 of its young men."
* "Losing a President Thiệu, the military still has a three-star General Thiệu. The people still have a soldier, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. I pledge to fight side by side with my brothers, the soldiers."
* "You ran away and left us to do the job that you could not do."
* "They have stabbed on their backs..uh..on our backs" (grammatically erred rant made by him in an interview featured in the documentary series,
Vietnam: a Television History.
*
Vietnam's President Thieu resigns*
President Thieu and Commandos of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Reunion Photos*
Funeral of President Nguyen Van Thieu Photos*
Obituary of President Nguyen Van Thieu from
BBC*
Obituary of President Nguyen Van Thieu from
Associated Press*
Thieu Biography From Spartacus Educational
