Nguyen Van Thieu (1923-2001) became president of South Vietnam in 1967, during the Vietnam War. In April 1975—under heavy pressure from his non-Communist political opponents—Thieu resigned from office in an attempt to encourage cease-fire talks between the Communists and the South Vietnam government. But the Vietnam War ended about a week later with a Communist take-over of South Vietnam.
Thieu was South Vietnam’s deputy prime minister and defense minister in 1965. From 1965 to 1967, he served as chief of state and chairman of the Directory, a 10-member executive committee in the military government that ruled South Vietnam.
Thieu was born in Phan Rang on April 5, 1923. As a military officer, he led a major attack during the military revolt that overthrew President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam in 1963. Born a Buddhist, Thieu became a Roman Catholic in 1958. After the Communists took control of South Vietnam in 1975, Thieu fled to London, in the United Kingdom. He later settled outside Boston, in the United States. He died in Boston on Sept. 29, 2001.
