Nguyễn Hữu Thọ
Nguyễn Hữu Thọ | |
---|---|
President of Vietnam (Acting) | |
In office 30 March 1980 – 4 July 1981 | |
Preceded by | Tôn Đức Thắng |
Succeeded by | Trường Chinh |
Chairman of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam | |
In office 6 June 1969 – 25 July 1976 | |
Preceded by | Position created |
Succeeded by | Tôn Đức Thắng |
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 |
Personal details | |
Born | Bến Lức District, Long An Province, French Indochina | 10 July 1910
Died | 24 December 1996 Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam | (aged 86)
Nationality | Vietnamese |
Political party | Communist Party of Vietnam |
Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (10 July 1910, Bến Lức District – 24 December 1996, Hanoi) was the Chairman of Consultative Council of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam from 6 June 1969 to 25 April 1976, and the Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam from 4 July 1981 to 18 June 1987.
Life and career
A French-educated lawyer in Cochinchina, Thọ was also a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and a participant in the Vietnamese fight 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 government 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.[1][2]
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.
In the newly re-unified 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). Nguyen died on 24 December 1996 when he was 86.
References
- ^ Kiernan, Ben. How Pol Pot Came to Power. London: Verso, 1985. pp. 170-71
- ^ Nghia M. Vo - Saigon: A History 2011- Page 140 "In a clearing in the Tây Ninh province about 80 miles west of Saigon, on December 19 to 20, 1960, Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, a Saigon lawyer, Trương Như Tảng, chief comptroller of a bank, Drs. Dương Quỳnh Hoa and Phùng Văn Cung, along with other dissidents, met with communists to form the National Liberation Front..."
External links
- Interview with Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, 1981 (Video Interview) WGBH Media Library & Archives
- Orders, decorations, and medals of Vietnam
- 1910 births
- 1996 deaths
- People from Long An Province
- Presidents of Vietnam
- Vice Presidents of Vietnam
- Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly (Vietnam)
- Lenin Peace Prize recipients
- French Section of the Workers' International politicians
- Communist Party of Vietnam politicians
- Vietnamese lawyers
- Communist rulers
- Vietnamese communists
- Communism in Vietnam