Nguyen Huu Tho

In this Vietnamese name, the family name is Nguyễn, but is often simplified to Nguyen in English-language text. According to Vietnamese custom, this person should properly be referred to by the given name Thọ.

Nguyễn Hữu Thọ
Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam
In office 26 April 1981 – 19 April 1987
Preceded by	Trường Chinh
Succeeded by	Lê Quang Đạo
Vice President of Vietnam
In office 25 April 1976 – 19 July 1992
Preceded by	Nguyễn Lương Bằng (as Vice President)
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Thị Bình
Chairman of the Consultative Council of Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam
In office 6 June 1969 – 25 April 1976
Preceded by	Post established
Succeeded by	Post abolished
Personal details
Born	(1910-07-10)10 July 1910 Bến Lức district, Long An province, Indochina
Died	24 December 1996(1996-12-24) (aged 86) Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Nationality	Vietnamese
Political party	Communist Party of Vietnam
Military service
Awards

Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (10 July 1910, Bến Lức District – 24 December 1996, Hanoi) was acting President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 30 March 1980 to 4 July 1981.

A French-educated lawyer in Cochin China, Thọ was also a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and a participant in the Vietnamese struggle for independence. He joined the Vietnamese National Popular League (or Liên Việt) in 1948, Communist Party in 1949, and was kept in detention from 1950–52, he later came to support the 1954 Geneva agreements, but opposed the régime of South Vietnam's president, Ngô Đình Diệm. In August 1954, he founded the Committee in Defense of Peace and the Geneva Agreements. The committee was crushed and banned by the South Vietnamese government in November the same year, and Thọ and other members of the organization were jailed after a police raid.

He remained in detention until 1961, when he managed to escape. Free, Thọ became Chairman of the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front. In 1965, he delivered an anti-imperialist speech, a booklet was later published in English, entitled SPEECH. His title was given as: President of the Presidium of the Consultative Council of the South Viet Nam [sic] National Front for Liberation on the 5th founding anniversary of the N.F.L. In 1969, he came Chairman of the Consultative Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, a post he retained until South Vietnam was incorporated into North Vietnam in 1976.^{[citation needed]}

In the newly re-united Vietnam, he served as one of the vice presidents until the death of Tôn Đức Thắng, when he was named acting president (April 1980 — July 1981), a post he held until the appointment of Trường Chinh, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, in July 1981. On relinquishing the post of president, he assumed the role of Chairman of the National Assembly until 1987. He was vice-chairman of the council of state 1981-92. Thọ was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (1983–84).^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Interview with Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, 1981 (Video Interview) WGBH Media Library & Archives