Nguyen Van Thieu
Encyclopedia
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

 from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...

 (ARVN), became head of a military junta
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...

, and then president after winning a fraudulent election. He established an authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...

 rule over South Vietnam until he resigned and left the nation a few days before the fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...

 and the ultimate communist victory.

Born in the southern coast town of Phan Rang, Thiệu was a descendent of the Tran Dinh dynasty of Annamese nobles. Thiệu initially joined the communist-dominated Việt Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...

 of Hồ Chí Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...

 but quit after a year and joined the Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...

 (VNA) of the French-backed State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...

. He gradually rose up the ranks and in 1954 led a battalion in expelling the communists from his native village. Following the withdrawal of the French, the VNA became the ARVN and Thiệu was the head of the Vietnamese National Military Academy for four years before becoming a division commander and colonel. In November 1960, he helped put down a coup attempt
1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt
On November 11, 1960, a failed coup attempt against President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Van Dong and Colonel Nguyen Chanh Thi of the Airborne Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam ....

 against President Ngô Đình Diệm. During this time, he also converted to Roman Catholicism and joined the regime’s secret Cần Lao Party
Can Lao Party
The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...

; Diệm gave preferential treatment to his co-religionists and Thiệu was accused of being one of many who converted for political advancement.

Despite this, Thiệu agreed to join the coup against Diệm in November 1963
1963 South Vietnamese coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...

 in the midst of the Buddhist crisis
Buddhist crisis
The Buddhist crisis was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam from May 1963 to November 1963 characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks....

, leading the siege on Gia Long Palace. Diệm was captured and executed
Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
The arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm, then president of South Vietnam, marked the culmination of a successful CIA-backed coup d’état led by General Dương Văn Minh in November 1963...

 and Thiệu made a general. Following Diệm’s demise, there was a series of short-lived juntas as coups
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 occurred frequently. Thiệu gradually moved up the ranks of the junta by adopting a cautious approach while other officers around him defeated and sidelined one another. In 1965, stability came to South Vietnam when he became the figurehead
Figurehead
A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 19th century.-History:Although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and...

 head of state, while Air Marshall Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Nguyen Cao Ky
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ served as the chief of the Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South Vietnam in a military junta from 1965 to 1967...

 became prime minister, leading a junta that ended the cycle of coups with two years of continuity, although the men were rivals.

In 1967, a transition to elected government was scheduled; and, after a power struggle within the military, Thiệu ran for the presidency with Kỳ as his running mate—both men had wanted the top job. To allow the two to work together, their fellow officers had agreed to have a military body controlled by Kỳ shape policy behind the scenes. The election was rigged to ensure that Thiệu and Kỳ’s military ticket would win. Leadership tensions became evident and Thiệu prevailed, sidelining Kỳ supporters from key military and cabinet posts. Thiệu then passed legislation to restrict candidacy eligibility for the 1971 election, banning almost all would-be opponents, while the rest withdrew as it was obvious that the poll would be a sham; Thiệu went on to win more than 90 percent of the vote and the election uncontested, while Kỳ retired from politics.

During his rule, Thiệu gained a reputation for turning a blind eye to and indulging in corruption, and appointing loyal cronies rather than competent officers to lead ARVN units. In 1968, he was caught out by the Tết Offensive due to complacency, and during the 1971 Operation Lam Sơn 719
Operation Lam Son 719
Operation Lam Son 719 was a limited-objective offensive campaign conducted in southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos by the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam between 8 February and 25 March 1971, during the Vietnam War...

 and the communists’ Easter Offensive, the I Corps
I Corps (South Vietnam)
The I Corps Tactical Zone was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps which the ARVN oversaw. This was the northernmost region of South Vietnam, bordering North Vietnam...

 in the north of the country was under the command of his confidant, Hoàng Xuân Lãm
Hoang Xuan Lam
Hoàng Xuân Lãm was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and a native of the city of Huế. Given responsibility for the I Corps Tactical Zone in 1967, Lãm coordinated the South Vietnamese offensive known as Operation Lam Sơn 719 which aimed at striking the North Vietnamese logistical...

, whose incompetence led to heavy defeats until Thiệu finally replaced him with Ngô Quang Trưởng
Ngo Quang Truong
Lieutenant General Ngô Quang Trưởng was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He was widely regarded as South Vietnam’s best officer and well-known for his uncompromising integrity and incorruptibility...

. After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...

—which Thiệu opposed—and the American withdrawal, South Vietnam struggled to hold off the communists’ final push for victory
Ho Chi Minh Campaign
The Hồ Chí Minh Campaign was the final title applied to a series of increasingly large-scale and ambitious offensive operations by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam which began on 13 December 1974...

. Thiệu gave contradictory orders to Trưởng to stand and fight or withdraw and consolidate, leading to mass panic and collapse in the north of the country. This allowed the communists to generate much momentum and they were close to Saigon within a month, prompting Thiệu to resign and leave the country aboard an American helicopter with millions of dollars in gold, just before the communists completed their victory. He eventually settled in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 and lived in seclusion until his death, avoiding angry refugee compatriots who blamed his administration for the nation’s demise.

Early years

Born in Phan Rang in Ninh Thuận Province
Ninh Thuan Province
Ninh Thuận is a province in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam .-History:The Cham principality of Panduranga had its center in Ninh Thuan Province, but also included much of what is now Binh Thuan Province. Panduranga became the political centre of Champa after the fall of Vijaya in 1471...

 on the south central coast of Vietnam, Thiệu was a son of a small but well-to-do landowner who earned his living by farming and fishing. Thiệu was the youngest of five children. According to some reports, Thiệu was born in November 1924, but adopted April 5, 1923, as his birthday on grounds that it was a more auspicious day. Thiệu’s elder brothers raised money so that he could attend the elite schools run by France, who were Vietnam’s colonial masters. Thiệu attended the French-run Roman Catholic Pellerin School in Huế, the imperial seat of the Nguyễn Dynasty and returned to his hometown after graduating.

During World War II, Imperial Japan invaded French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....

 and seized control. Ninh Thuận was taken over by the Japanese in 1942, but the reaction from the locals was muted, and Thiệu continued to work the ricelands alongside his father for another three years.

Việt Minh and Vietnamese National Army

When World War II ended, Thiệu joined the Việt Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...

, led by Hồ Chí Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...

, whose goal was to liberate Vietnam from French colonialism. With no rifles, Thiệu’s class of Việt Minh recruits trained in jungle clearings with bamboo. He rose to be district chief, but left the movement after just one year, following the return of the French to southern Vietnam in 1946 to contest Việt Minh control. Thiệu said, "By August of 1946, I knew that Viet Minh were Communists … They shot people. They overthrew the village committee. They seized the land." He defected and moved to Saigon and joined the forces of the French-backed State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...

.

With the help of his brother, Nguyễn Văn Hiếu, a Parisian-trained lawyer who served in the upper echelons of the State of Vietnam government, Thiệu initially was enrolled in the Merchant Marine Academy. After a year, he was given his officer’s commission, but he rejected a position on a ship when he discovered that the French owners were going to pay him less than his French colleagues. This incident was said to have made him suspicious of foreigners. Thiệu later became known for his paranoia and distrust of his American allies when he rose to the top of politics.

Thiệu transferred to the National Military Academy in Đà Lạt. In 1949, upon graduation, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant from the first officer candidates’ course of the Vietnam National Army, which had been created by former Emperor Bảo Đại
Bảo Đài
Bảo Đài is a commune and village in Lục Nam District, Bac Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.-References:...

 who had agreed to be the Chief of State of the State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...

 to fight against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam of the Việt Minh. Thiệu started as the commander of an infantry platoon fighting against the Việt Minh. He quickly rose up the ranks, and was known as a good strategist, albeit cautious, with an aversion to attacking unless victory appeared almost assured. He was sent to France to train at the Infantry School
École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr
The École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr is the foremost French military academy. Its official name is . It is often referred to as Saint-Cyr . Its motto is "Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre": literally "They study to vanquish" or "Training for victory"...

 at Coëtquidan
Coëtquidan
Camp Coëtquidan is a French military educational facility located in Guer, Morbihan département, in Brittany, France...

, before returning home to attend the Staff College in Hanoi. Nevertheless, Thiệu was regarded as “very much a country boy, lacking the manners of more sophisticated urban dwellers who aspired to become officers”. By 1954, he was a major and led a battalion that attacked a Việt Minh unit, forcing the communists to withdraw from Phan Rang. At first the Việt Minh retreated into Thiệu’s old family home, confident that he would not attack his own house, but they were mistaken.

Army of the Republic of Vietnam

Thiệu was a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 when the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

) was founded and officially gained full sovereignty after the withdrawal of French forces in 1955, following the 1954 Geneva Agreement
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...

. In 1956, he was appointed as head of the National Military Academy in Đà Lạt, and held the post for four years. There he formed ties with many of the younger officers and trainees and who went on to become his generals, colonels and majors when he ascended to the presidency a decade later. In 1957, and again in 1960, Thiệu was sent to the United States for military training. He studied at the Command and General Staff College
Command and General Staff College
The United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. The college was established in 1881 by William Tecumseh Sherman as a...

 at Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...

, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, and in weapons training at Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas. With an area of about , it is the Army's second-largest installation behind the adjacent White Sands Missile Range. It is FORSCOM's largest installation, and has the Army's largest Maneuver Area behind the...

 in Texas, and at the Joint and Combined Planning School of the Pacific Command in Okinawa.

Role in stopping 1960 anti-Diệm coup

On November 11, 1960, Colonels Vương Văn Đông
Vuong Van Dong
Lieutenant Colonel Vương Văn Đông was an officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who led the failed coup attempt of 1960 against President Ngô Đình Diệm. After the failed coup, he fled to Cambodia with the other coup leaders aboard a commandeered air force C-47. Đông was allowed to quietly...

 and Nguyễn Chánh Thi
Nguyen Chanh Thi
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Chánh Thi was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for frequently being involved in coups in the 1960s and wielding substantial influence as a key member of various juntas that ruled South Vietnam from 1964 until 1966, when he was...

 launched a coup attempt against President Ngô Đình Diệm, but after surrounding the palace, they stopped attacking and decided to negotiate a power-sharing agreement. Diệm then falsely promised reform, allowing him time for loyalists to come to the rescue. The rebels had also failed to seal the highways into the capital to block loyalist reinforcements.

Thiệu sent infantry from his 7th Division from Biên Hòa
Bien Hoa
Biên Hòa is a city in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, about east of Ho Chi Minh City , to which Bien Hoa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1.- Demographics :In 1989 the estimated population was over 300,000. In 2005, the population wss 541,495...

, a town just north of Saigon, to help rescue Diệm. As the false promises of reform were being aired, Trần Thiện Khiêm
Tran Thien Khiem
General Trần Thiện Khiêm was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. During the 1960s he was involved in several coups. He helped President Ngo Dinh Diem put down a November 1960 coup attempt and was rewarded with promotion...

’s men approached the palace grounds. Some of the rebels switched sides as the power balance changed. After a brief but violent battle that killed around 400 people, the coup attempt was crushed. On October 21, 1961, Thiệu was transferred to command the 1st Division
1st Division (South Vietnam)
The 1st Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam —the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the I Corps that oversaw the northernmost region of South Vietnam, the centre of Vietnam....

, based in Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...

, the former imperial capital in central Vietnam. He remained in the post until December 8, 1962, when General Đỗ Cao Trí
Do Cao Tri
Lieutenant General Đỗ Cao Trí was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam known for his fighting prowess and flamboyant style. Tri started out in the French Army before transferring to the Vietnamese National Army and the ARVN...

 took over. Twelve days later, Thiệu was appointed commander of the 5th Division
5th Division (South Vietnam)
The Fifth Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam —the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the III Corps that oversaw the region of the country surrounding the capital, Saigon....

, which was based in Biên Hòa, the 7th having been moved to Mỹ Tho. Diệm did not trust Thiệu’s predecessor Nguyễn Duc Thang, but Thiệu’s appointment proved to be a mistake.

Coup against Diệm

Thiệu turned against Diệm late, and led his 5th Division in the revolt. The mainly Buddhist generals thought it appropriate that he attack the Catholic Diệm. Late on the night of November 1, as light drizzle fell, Thiệu’s tanks, artillery, and troops advanced towards the grounds of Gia Long Palace. A little before 22:00, infantry started the assault, covered by tank and artillery fire, which flattened the Presidential Guard barracks. Demolition units set charges to the palace, and rebel flamethrowers sprayed buildings, as the two sides exchanged gunfire. After a lull, shortly after 3:00, the shelling resumed, and just after 4:00, Thiệu ordered the start of the final stage of the siege. By 6:37, the palace fell. He was then made a general by the junta after they took power. Diệm had been promised exile by the generals, but after running away from the palace, was executed on the journey back to military headquarters after being captured. Dương Văn Minh
Duong Van Minh
Minh was born on 16 February 1916 in Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong Delta, the son of a wealthy landowner who served in a prominent position in the Finance Ministry of the French colonial administration...

, the junta and coup leader, was generally blamed for ordering Diệm’s killing, but there has been debate about the culpability.

When Thiệu rose to become president, Minh blamed him for the assassinations. In 1971, Minh claimed that Thiệu had caused the deaths by hesitating and delaying the attack on Gia Long Palace, implying that if Diệm was captured there, junior officers could not have killed him while in a small group. General Trần Văn Đôn
Tran Van Don
Trần Văn Đôn was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and one of the principal figures in the coup d'état which deposed Ngô Đình Diệm from the presidency of South Vietnam.-Family:...

, another plotter, was reported to have pressured Thiệu during the night of the siege, asking him on the phone “Why are you so slow in doing it? Do you need more troops? If you do, ask Đính
Ton That Dinh
Major General Tôn Thất Đính is a retired officer who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known as one of the key figures in the November 1963 coup that deposed and resulted in the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam .A favourite of...

 to send more troops—and do it quickly because after taking the palace you will be made a general." Thiệu stridently denied responsibility and issued a statement that Minh did not dispute:"Duong Van Minh has to assume entire responsibility for the death of Ngo Dinh Diem."

Diệm remained a taboo subject until Thiệu became president. Thiệu’s regime first approved of public memorial services for Diệm upon the eighth anniversary of his death in 1971, and this was the third year that such services were permitted. Madame Thiệu, the First Lady, was seen weeping at a requiem mass for Diệm at the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica , officially Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception is a cathedral located in the downtown of Saigon City, Vietnam. Established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880...

.

Junta member

Thiệu was rewarded with membership in the 12-man Military Revolutionary Council led by General Minh, and served as the secretary general; the leading figures in the MRC were Generals Minh, Trần Văn Đôn
Tran Van Don
Trần Văn Đôn was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and one of the principal figures in the coup d'état which deposed Ngô Đình Diệm from the presidency of South Vietnam.-Family:...

, Lê Văn Kim
Le Van Kim
Lieutenant General Lê Văn Kim is a former general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He was the brother in law of General Trần Văn Đôn and together with General Dương Văn Minh, the trio organised the 1963 South Vietnamese coup which toppled President Ngô Đình Diệm and ended in his arrest and...

 and Tôn Thất Đính
Ton That Dinh
Major General Tôn Thất Đính is a retired officer who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known as one of the key figures in the November 1963 coup that deposed and resulted in the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam .A favourite of...

.
In August 1964, the junta head, General Nguyễn Khánh
Nguyen Khanh
Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...

, decided to increase his authority by declaring a state of emergency, increasing police powers, banning protests, tightening censorship and allowing the police arbitrary search and imprisonment powers. He drafted a new constitution, which would have augmented his personal power. However, these moves only served to weaken Khánh as large demonstrations and riots broke out in the cities, with majority Buddhists prominent, calling for an end to the state of emergency and the abandonment of the new constitution, as well as a progression back to civilian rule.

Fearing that he could be toppled by the intensifying protests, Khánh made concessions, repealing the new constitution and police measures, and promising to reinstate civilian rule and remove Cần Lao Party
Can Lao Party
The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...

—a secret Catholic organization used to infiltrate and spy on society to maintain Diệm’s regime—members from power. Many senior officers decried what they viewed as a handing of power to the Buddhist leaders, in particular the Catholics, such as Khiêm and Thiệu. They then tried to remove Khánh in favour of Minh, and recruited many officers into their plot. Khiêm and Thiệu sought out U.S. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor and sought a private endorsement for a coup, but Taylor did not want any more changes in leadership, fearing a corrosive effect on the already unstable government. This deterred Khiêm’s group from enacting their plans.

The division among the generals came to a head at a meeting of the MRC on August 26–27. Khánh claimed that the instability was due to troublemaking by members and supporters of the Catholic-aligned Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam. Prominent officers associated with the Đại Việt included Thiệu and Khiêm. Khiêm blamed Khánh’s concessions to Buddhist activists as the reason for the trouble. Thiệu and another Catholic General, Nguyễn Hữu Có
Nguyen Huu Co
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Hữu Có served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and was prominent in several coups and juntas in the 1960s....

, called for the replacement of Khánh with Minh, but the latter refused. Feeling pressured by the strong condemnations of his colleagues, Khánh said that he would resign. However, after further deadlock, Khánh, Minh, and Khiêm were put together in a triumvirate to resolve the problem, but tensions remained as Khánh dominated the decision-making.

On September 15, 1964, Thiệu became the commander of IV Corps
IV Corps (South Vietnam)
The IV Corps was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975...

, which oversaw the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...

 region of the country, and three divisions. This came after the Buddhists had lobbied Khánh to remove General Dương Văn Đức
Duong Van Duc
Major General Dương Văn Đức was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He is best known for leading a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh on September 14, 1964...

 from command of IV Corps; Đức responded with a failed coup attempt along with Lâm Văn Phát
Lam Van Phat
Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...

 on September 13. During the coup attempt, Khiêm and Thiệu’s lack of public action, combined with their criticism of Khánh was seen as tacit support of the rebels. U.S. Embassy logs during the coup claimed that the Thiệu and Khiêm “seem so passive that they appear to have been either tacitly supporting or associated with his move by Đức and Phát”. However, after the coup faltered, the pair “issued expressions of firm support for Khánh somewhat belatedly”.
Thiệu was part of a group of younger officers called the Young Turks—the most prominent apart from himself included commander of the Vietnam Air Force
Vietnam Air Force
The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...

, Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, commander of I Corps
I Corps (South Vietnam)
The I Corps Tactical Zone was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps which the ARVN oversaw. This was the northernmost region of South Vietnam, bordering North Vietnam...

 General Nguyễn Chánh Thi
Nguyen Chanh Thi
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Chánh Thi was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for frequently being involved in coups in the 1960s and wielding substantial influence as a key member of various juntas that ruled South Vietnam from 1964 until 1966, when he was...

 and Admiral Chung Tấn Cang
Chung Tan Cang
Admiral Chung Tấn Cang was the commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy from 1963 to 1965...

, the head of the Republic of Vietnam Navy
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...

. They and Khánh wanted to forcibly retire officers with more than 25 years of service, as they thought them to be lethargic, out of touch, and ineffective, but most importantly, as rivals for power. Specific targets of this proposed policy were Generals Minh, Trần Văn Đôn
Tran Van Don
Trần Văn Đôn was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and one of the principal figures in the coup d'état which deposed Ngô Đình Diệm from the presidency of South Vietnam.-Family:...

, Lê Văn Kim
Le Van Kim
Lieutenant General Lê Văn Kim is a former general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He was the brother in law of General Trần Văn Đôn and together with General Dương Văn Minh, the trio organised the 1963 South Vietnamese coup which toppled President Ngô Đình Diệm and ended in his arrest and...

 and Mai Hữu Xuân
Mai Huu Xuan
Major General Mai Hữu Xuân was a general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and a participant in the November 1963 coup that deposed President Ngô Đình Diệm and ended in his assassination....

.

The signature of Chief of State Phan Khắc Sửu
Phan Khac Suu
Phan Khắc Sửu was President of South Vietnam from 1964–1965.-Biography:He was an octogenarian, a trained agricultural engineer and was a member of the Cao Đài religion.He was a member of Emperor Bảo Đại’s political cabinet....

 was required to pass the ruling, but he referred the matter to the High National Council (HNC), an appointed civilian advisory body, to get their opinion. The HNC turned down the request. This was speculated to be due to the fact that many of the HNC members were old, and did not appreciate the generals’ negativity towards seniors. On December 19, the generals dissolved the HNC and arrested some of the members as well as other civilian politicians. This prompted U.S. Ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor
Maxwell D. Taylor
General Maxwell Davenport "Max" Taylor was an United States Army four star general and diplomat of the mid-20th century, who served as the fifth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after having been appointed by the President of the United States John F...

 to angrily berate Thiệu, Thi, Kỳ and Cang in a private meeting and threaten to cut off aid if they did not reverse their decision. However, this galvanized the officers around Khánh for a time and they ignored Taylor’s threats without repercussions as the Americans were too intent on defeating the communists to cut funding.
Thiệu was again plotting the following month when the junta-appointed Prime Minister, Trần Văn Hương
Tran Van Huong
Trần Văn Hương was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the penultimate president of South Vietnam prior to its surrender to the communist forces of North Vietnam.-Biography:...

, introduced a series of war expansion measures, notably by widening the terms of conscription. This provoked widespread anti-Hương demonstrations and riots across the country, mainly from conscription-aged students and pro-negotiations Buddhists. Reliant on Buddhist support, Khánh did little to try to contain the protests, and then decided to have the armed forces take over the government, and he removed Hương on January 27.

Khánh’s action nullified a counter-plot involving Hương that had developed during the civil disorders that forced him from office. In an attempt to pre-empt his deposal, Hương had backed a plot led by some Đại Việt-oriented Catholic officers including Thiệu and Có. They planned to remove Khánh and bring Khiêm back from Washington. The U.S. Embassy in Saigon was privately supportive of the aim as Taylor and Khánh had become implacable enemies, but they did not fully back the move as they regarded it as poorly thought out and potentially a political embarrassment due to the need to use an American plane to transport some plotters between Saigon and Washington, and as a result, they promised asylum only for Hương if necessary.

The plotting continued over the next month with U.S. encouragement, especially when evidence emerged that Khánh wanted to make a deal with the communists. Taylor told the generals that the U.S. was “in no way propping up General Khanh or backing him in any fashion”. At this stage, Taylor and his staff in Saigon thought highly of Thiệu, Có and Cang as possible replacements for Khánh. Thiệu was quoted in a Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

 (CIA) report as being described by an unnamed American official as “intelligent, highly ambitious, and likely to remain a coup plotter with the aim of personal advancement”. Thiệu took a cautious approach, as did Có and Cang, and they were pre-empted by Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo
Pham Ngoc Thao
Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...

, an undetected communist spy who launched a coup with Phát on a hardline Catholic platform without U.S. backing. With U.S. support against both Khánh and the plotters, Kỳ and Thi put down the coup attempt and then ousted Khánh. This left Kỳ, Thi and Thiệu as the three most prominent members in the new junta.

There were claims that Thiệu ordered the military to capture and extrajudicially kill Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo
Pham Ngoc Thao
Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...

, who died in 1965 after a series of coup attempts between various ARVN officers. During this period, Thiệu gradually became more prominent as other generals fought and defeated one another in coups, which forced several into exile.

Figurehead chief of state

In mid 1965, Thiệu became the figurehead chief of state of a military junta, with Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Nguyen Cao Ky
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ served as the chief of the Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South Vietnam in a military junta from 1965 to 1967...

 as the prime minister. After a series of short-lived juntas, their pairing put an end to a series of leadership changes that had occurred since Diệm’s demise.

Kỳ and Thiệu’s military junta decided to inaugurate their rule by holding a “no breathing week”. They imposed censorship, closed many newspapers that published material deemed unacceptable, and suspended civil liberties. They then sidelined the civilian politicians to a “village of old trees” to “conduct seminars and draw up plans and programs in support of government policy”. They decided to ignore religious and other opposition groups “with the stipulation that troublemakers will be shot”.

Kỳ and Thiệu were more concerned with attacking the communists than their predecessors. The generals began to mobilize the populace into paramilitary organizations. After one month, Thích Trí Quang
Thich Tri Quang
Thích Trí Quang is a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk best known for his role in leading South Vietnam’s Buddhist population during the Buddhist crisis in 1963....

 began to call for the removal of Thiệu because he was a member of Diệm’s Catholic Cần Lao Party
Can Lao Party
The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...

, decrying his “fascistic tendencies”, and claiming that Cần Lao members were undermining Kỳ.

For Thích Trí Quang, Thiệu was a symbol of the Diệm era of Catholic domination, when advancement was based on religion. He had desired that General Thi, known for his pro-Buddhist position, would lead the country, and denounced Thiệu for his alleged past crimes against Buddhists.

In 1966, with Kỳ leading the way, Thi was sacked in a power struggle, provoking widespread civil unrest in his base in I Corps; Thích Trí Quang led Buddhist protests against Kỳ and Thiệu and many units in I Corps began disobeying orders, siding with Thi and the Buddhist movement. Eventually, Kỳ’s military forces forced the dissidents to back down and defeated those who did not. Thi was exiled and Thích Trí Quang put under house arrest, ending Buddhist opposition and any effective threat to Kỳ and Thiệu’s regime.

1967 presidential election

Under U.S. insistence for constitutional rule, elections for the presidency
South Vietnamese presidential election, 1967
Presidential elections were held in South Vietnam on 3 September 1967. The result was a victory for Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, who won 34.8% of the vote. Voter turnout was 83.2%.-Results:...

 and legislature
South Vietnamese parliamentary election, 1967
Parliamentary elections were held in South Vietnam on 22 October 1967. Only a few candidates were affiliated with political parties. Voter turnout was reported to be 72.9%.-Results:...

 were scheduled.

On September 3, 1967, Thiệu ran successfully for the presidency with Kỳ as his running mate. Thiệu took 34% of the vote and held that position until April 21, 1975.

Thiệu promised democracy, social reform and vowed to “open wide the door of peace and leave it open”. However, the poll was the start of a power struggle with Kỳ, who had been the main leader of South Vietnam in the preceding two years. The military had decided that they would support one candidate, and after both men wanted the job, Kỳ would only back down after being promised real influence behind the scenes through a military committee that would control proceedings. However, Thiệu was intent on concentrating power into his own hands.

Tết Offensive

During the Lunar New Year
Tet
Tet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on...

 of 1968, the communists launched a massive attack on the cities of Vietnam in an attempt to topple Thiệu and reunify the country under their rule. At the time of the attack on Saigon, Thiệu was out of town, having travelled to celebrate the new year at his wife’s family’s home at Mỹ Tho in the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...

. Kỳ, who was still in the capital, stepped into the spotlight and took command, organising the military forces in Saigon in the battle. The ARVN and the Americans repelled the communist onslaught. Kỳ’s overshadowing of his superior during South Vietnam’s deepest crisis further strained relations between the two men.

Although the communists were repelled and suffered heavy losses, South Vietnam suffered heavily as the conflict reached the cities for the first time in a substantial way. As ARVN troops were pulled back to defend the towns, the Việt Cộng gained in the countryside. The violence and destruction witnessed damaged public confidence in Thiệu, who apparently could not protect the citizens.

Thiệu’s regime estimated the civilian dead at 14,300 with 24,000 wounded. 630,000 new refugees had been generated, joining the nearly 800,000 others already displaced by the war. By the end of 1968, 8% of the populace was living in a refugee camp. More than 70,000 homes had been destroyed and the nation’s infrastructure was severely damaged. 1968 became the deadliest year of the war to date for South Vietnam, with 27,915 men killed.

In the wake of the offensive, however, Thiệu’s regime became more energetic. On February 1, Thiệu declared a state of martial law, and in June, the National Assembly approved his request for a general mobilization of the population and the induction of 200,000 draftees into the armed forces by the end of the year; the bill had been blocked before the Tết Offensive. This would increase South Vietnam’s military to more than 900,000 men. Mobilization and token anti-corruption campaigns were carried out. Three of the four ARVN corps commanders were replaced for poor performance during the offensive. Thiệu also established a National Recovery Committee to oversee food distribution, resettlement, and housing construction for the new refugees. Both the government perceived a new determination among the ordinary citizens, especially among previously apathetic urbanites who were angered by the communist attacks.

Thiệu used the period to consolidate his personal power. His only real political rival was Vice President Kỳ. In the aftermath of Tết, Kỳ supporters in the military and the administration were quickly removed from power, arrested, or exiled. A crack-down on the South Vietnamese press followed and there was a return of some of Diệm’s Cần Lao members to positions of power. Within six months, the populace began to call him “the little dictator”. Over the next few years, Kỳ became increasingly sidelined to the point of irrelevance.

Re-elected unopposed and stagnation

In 1971, Thiệu ran for re-election, but his reputation for corruption made his political opponents believe the poll would be rigged, and they declined to run. As the only candidate, Thiệu was thus easily re-elected, receiving 94% of the vote on an 87% turn-out, a figure that was widely thought to be fraudulent.

The signing of the Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...

 in March 1973 failed to end the fighting in South Vietnam, as both sides immediately violated the cease-fire and attempted to make territorial gains, resulting in large battles.

In late 1973, the communists issued Resolution 21, which called for “strategic raids” against South Vietnam to gain territory and to gauge the reaction of Thiệu and the American government. This started between March and November 1974, when the communists attacked Quang Duc Province and Bien Hoa
Bien Hoa
Biên Hòa is a city in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, about east of Ho Chi Minh City , to which Bien Hoa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1.- Demographics :In 1989 the estimated population was over 300,000. In 2005, the population wss 541,495...

. The U.S. failed to respond to the communist violations and the ARVN lost a lot of supplies in the fighting.

Thiệu expressed his stance on the ceasefire by publicly proclaiming the “Four Nos”: no negotiations with the communists; no communist political activities south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ); no coalition government; and no surrender of territory to the North Vietnamese or Provisional Revolutionary Government
Provisional Revolutionary Government
The title Provisional Revolutionary Government could refer to one of several provisional governments:* The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, formed on June 8, 1969....

 (PRG), which went against the deal. Thiệu still believed the American promise to reintroduce air power against the communists if they made any serious violations of the agreement took place, and he and his government also assumed that U.S. aid would continue to be forthcoming at previous levels.

On July 1, 1973, however, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that all but prohibited any U.S. combat activities over or in Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, Cambodia, and Vietnam. On November 7, the legislative branch overrode Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Act. In 1973–74, U.S. funding was slashed to $965 million, a reduction of more than 50%. Despite the American president’s growing political difficulties and an increasingly hostile working relationship with the legislature over Vietnam, Thiệu, and most of the Saigon leadership, remained optimistic about ongoing aid. According to Vietnamese Air Force General Đổng Văn Khuyên, “Our leaders continued to believe in U.S. air intervention even after the U.S. Congress had expressly forbidden it … They deluded themselves.”

As North Vietnam needed to replenish its armed forces in 1974, Thiệu decided to go on the attack. He stretched his own forces thinly by launching offensives that regained most of the territory captured by PAVN forces during the 1973 campaign, and retook 15% of the total land area controlled by the communists at the time of the cease-fire. In April, Thiệu launched the Svay Rieng Campaign against communist strongholds in eastern Cambodia near Tây Ninh
Tay Ninh
Tây Ninh is a town in southwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Tay Ninh province, which encompasses the town and much of the surrounding farmland....

, in what was the last major ARVN offensive. While these operations were successful, the cost in terms of manpower and resources was high. By the end of the year the military was experiencing equipment shortages as a result of decreased American aid, while communist forces continued to gain strength.

By the end of October, the North Vietnamese had formulated their strategy for 1975 and 1976. In what became known as Resolution of 1975, the party leadership reported that the war had reached its “final stage”. The army was to consolidate its gains, eliminate South Vietnamese border outposts and secure its logistical corridor, and continue its force build-up in the south. During 1976, the final general offensive would begin. The communists decided to start by attacking Phước Long Province
Phuoc Long Province
thumb|right|200px|[[Binh Duong Province|Binh Duong]], Phuoc Long and [[Binh Long Province|Binh Long]] in map of South VietnamPhuoc Long is former province of Dong Nam Bo region in South Vietnam...

, around 140 km north of Saigon.

In the meantime, morale in and supplies for the ARVN continued to fade away. Desertion increased, and only 65% of registered personnel were present. Morale fell due to Thiệu’s continued policy of promoting officers on the grounds of loyalty and cronyism. Corruption and incompetence were endemic, with some officers “raising it almost to an art form.” Under heavy criticism, Thiệu had sacked the II and IV Corps commanders, Generals Nguyễn Văn Toàn
Nguyen Van Toan
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn Toàn was born in Huế and served as a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam .-Military education:Toan graduated from the Dalat Military Academy in 1952 and became an armor officer....

 and Nguyễn Văn Nghi
Nguyen Van Nghi
Nguyen Van Nghi — the French physician who brought true Chinese Medicine to the West.- Life account :...

, loyalists notorious for their corruption.

The aid cuts meant that an artillery piece could only fire four rounds a day, and each soldier had only 85 bullets per month. Because of lack of fuel and spare parts, air force transport operations shrank by up to 70%. Due to Thiệu’s insistence on not surrendering any territory, the army was spread very thinly, defending useless terrain along a 600 miles (966 km) frontier, while the strategic reserve was occupied in static defensive roles. The situation was exacerbated by the collapse of the economy and a massive influx of refugees into the cities. Worldwide rises in fuel process, due to the 1972 Arab oil embargo
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...

, and poor rice harvests throughout Asia, hit hard.

Collapse

By the end of 1974, around 370,000 communist troops were in South Vietnam, augmented by ever increasing influxes of military hardware. In mid-December, the communists attacked Phuoc Long City, and quickly gained the upper hand, besieging the city.

On January 2, Thiệu held an emergency meeting with General Dư Quốc Đống
Du Quoc Dong
Lieutenant General Dư Quốc Đống was an officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.He served as the commander of III Corps, which oversaw the region of the country surrounding the capital Saigon, from 30 October 1974 until January 1975, when he was replaced by Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn Toàn....

, who was in charge of the Phuoc Long situation, and other senior military figures. Đống presented a plan for the relief of Phuoc Long, but it was rejected because a lack of reserve forces of sufficient size available, a lack of airlift capability, and the belief that the besieged defenders could not hold out long enough for reinforcements. Thiệu then decided to cede the entire province to the North Vietnamese, since it was considered to be less important than Tây Ninh
Tay Ninh
Tây Ninh is a town in southwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Tay Ninh province, which encompasses the town and much of the surrounding farmland....

, Pleiku
Pleiku
Pleiku is a town in central Vietnam, located in that nation's central highland region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province; it is inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or Degar....

, or Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...

—economically, politically, and demographically.

On January 6, 1975, Phuoc Long City became the first provincial capital permanently seized by the communists. Less than a sixth of the ARVN forces survived. However, the more important result was that the Americans showed complete apathy to the communist violations of the ceasefire, severely denting South Vietnamese morale.

Lê Duẩn declared that “Never have we had military and political conditions so perfect or a strategic advantage so great as we have now.” The communists thus decided to initiate a full-scale offensive against the central highlands, which had been named Campaign 275.

General Văn Tiến Dũng planned to take Buôn Ma Thuột, using 75,000–80,000 men to surround the city before capturing it.

Major General Phạm Văn Phú, the II Corps commander, was given adequate warnings of the impending attacks, but was not worried. He thought the true objective was Pleiku
Pleiku
Pleiku is a town in central Vietnam, located in that nation's central highland region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province; it is inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or Degar....

 or Kontum
Kontum
Kon Tum is the capital town of Kon Tum province in Vietnam. It is located inland in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, near the borders with Laos and Cambodia....

 and that Buôn Ma Thuột was a diversion. The town was therefore lightly defended and communists outnumbered defenders by more than 8:1. The battle for Buôn Ma Thuột began on March 10 and ended only eight days later. Reinforcements were flown in, but were dismantled and fled in chaos.

On March 18 the communists took complete control of Đắk Lắk Province. ARVN forces began to rapidly shift positions in an attempt to keep the North Vietnamese from quickly pushing eastward to the coastal lowlands along Route 21.

In the face of rapid communist advances, Thiệu had sent a delegation to Washington in early March to request an increase in aid. The U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin
Graham Martin
Graham Anderson Martin succeeded Ellsworth Bunker as United States Ambassador to South Vietnam in 1973. He would be the last person to hold that position. Martin previously served as ambassador to Thailand and as U.S. representative to SEATO....

 also traveled to Washington to present the case to President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

. However, the U.S. Congress, increasingly reluctant to invest in what was seen as a lost cause, slashed a proposed $1.45 billion military aid package for 1975 to $700 million. The Ford administration, however, continued to encourage Thiệu to believe that money would eventually come.

During this time, Thiệu was feeling the increased pressure and became increasingly paranoid. According to one of his closest advisors Nguyen Tien Hung, he became "suspicious...secretive...and ever watchful for a coup d'etat against him." His increasing isolation had begun to deny him "the services of competent people, adequate staff work, consultation, and coordination". Thieu's military decisions were followed faithfully by his officers who generally agreed that he "made all the decisions as to how the war should be conducted."

Abandonment of the central highlands

By March 11, Thieu had concluded that there was no hope of receiving the $300 million supplemental aid package from the U.S. On that basis he called a meeting attended by Lieutenant General Dang Van Quang and General Vien. After reviewing the situation, Thieu pulled out a small-scale map of South Vietnam and discussed the possible redeployment of the armed forces to "hold and defend only those populous and flourishing areas which were really most important." Thieu then sketched on the map those areas which he considered most important, III and IV Corps. He also pointed out those areas that were currently under communist control which would have to be retaken. The key to the location of these operations were concentrations of natural resources such as rice, rubber and industries. The necessary territory included coastal areas where oil had been discovered on the continental shelf. These areas were to become, in Thieu's words: "Our untouchable heartland, the irreducible national stronghold." With respect to the I and II Corps Zones, he drew a series of phase lines on the map indicating that South Vietnamese forces should hold what they could, but that they could redeploy southward if needed. Thieu declared this new strategy as "Light at the top, heavy on the bottom."

The critical decision was made on March 14 when Thieu met Phu. Thieu had decided to abandon Pleiku and Kontum so that the II Corps forces could concentrate on retaking Ban Me Thuot, which he considered more important. Phu then decided that the only possible means of doing this was to retreat to the coast along Interprovincial Route 7B, a dilapidated, rough track with several downed bridges, before recuperating and counterattacking back into the highlands.

The large-scale retreat of hundreds of thousands of military personnel and civilians would be dangerous. However, it was poorly planned, many senior officers were not kept informed, and some units were left behind or retreated incoherently. This was exacerbated by a three-day delay when the convoy encountered a broken bridge and had to rebuild it. The communist forces caught up, surrounded the convoy, and attacked it.

Heavy losses were incurred against the numerically dominant communists, who shelled and rocketed the soldiers and peasants alike. More bridge delays played into communist hands, and by the time the convoy reached Tuy Hoa on March 27, it was estimated by the ARVN that only 20,000 of the 60,000 troops had survived, while only 25% of the estimated 180,000 civilians succeeded. Thieu's order to evacuate, which was too late, had resulted in chaos and a bloodbath that left more than 150,000 dead.

The planned operation to retake Ban Me Thuot never materialized simply because II Corps had been reduced to only 25% strength. Buoyed by their easy triumph the North Vietnamese overran the whole region.

Thieu’s multiple backflips and resultant collapse in I Corps

However, a worse collapse occurred in the northernmost I Corps, after a series of backflips by Thieu. It added to the fall of the highlands, which had already earned Thieu much criticism.

I Corps fielded three infantry divisions, the elite Airborne and Marine Divisions, four Ranger Groups and an armored brigade, under the command of Ngô Quang Trưởng
Ngo Quang Truong
Lieutenant General Ngô Quang Trưởng was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He was widely regarded as South Vietnam’s best officer and well-known for his uncompromising integrity and incorruptibility...

, regarded as the nation's finest general. Until mid-March, the North Vietnamese had only tried to cut the highways, despite having five divisions and 27 further regiments. At a meeting on March 13, Truong and the new III Corps commander, Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Toan
Nguyen Van Toan
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn Toàn was born in Huế and served as a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam .-Military education:Toan graduated from the Dalat Military Academy in 1952 and became an armor officer....

 briefed Thieu. Thieu laid out his plan to consolidate a smaller proportion. As Truong understood it, he was free to redeploy his forces south to hold Da Nang, South Vietnam's second largest city, thereby abandoning Hue. Offshore oil deposits were thought to be nearby. Thieu also decided to remove the Airborne and Marines, leaving I Corps exposed.

Thieu called Truong to Saigon on March 19 to detail his withdrawal plan. The president then stunned Truong by announcing that he had misinterpreted his previous orders: The old imperial capital of Hue was not to be abandoned, despite losing two divisions.

In the meantime, the withdrawal preparations and the increasing North Vietnamese pressure caused civilians to flee, clogging the highway and hampering the withdrawal. Truong then requested permission for a withdrawal of his forces into the three enclaves as planned; Thieu's ordered him to "hold onto any territory he could with whatever forces he now had, including the Marine Division", implying that he could retreat if needed.

Truong returned to Da Nang to the start of a North Vietnamese offensive. President Thieu made a nationwide radio broadcast that afternoon proclaiming that Hue would be held "at all costs", contradicting the previous order. That evening Truong ordered a retreat to a new defense line at the My Chanh River to defend Hue, thereby ceding all of Quang Tri Province. He was confident that his forces could hold Hue, but was then astounded by a late afternoon message from Thieu that ordered "that because of inability to simultaneously defend all three enclaves, the I Corps commander was free...to redeploy his forces for the defense of Da Nang only." The people of Quang Tri and Hue began to leave their homes by the hundreds of thousands, joining an ever-growing exodus toward Da Nang.

Meanwhile, the North Vietnamese closed in on Da Nang amid the chaos caused by Thieu's confused leadership. Within a few days I Corps was beyond control. The South Vietnamese tried to evacuate from the other urban enclaves into Da Nang, but the 1st Division collapsed after its commander Brigadier General Nguyen Van Diem, angered by Thieu’s incoherent abandonment, told his men that "We've been betrayed...It is now sauve qui peu (every man for himself)...See you in Da Nang." The overland march, pummelled by communist artillery the entire way, degenerated into chaos as it moved toward Da Nang. The remainder of the force deserted or began looting. Only a minority survived and some disillusioned officers committed suicide.

As anarchy and looting enveloped Đà Nẵng, and a defense of the city becoming impossible, Truong requested permission to evacuate by sea, but Thieu, baffled, refused to make a decision. When his communications with Saigon were sundered by communist shelling, Truong ordered a naval withdrawal, as Thieu was not making a decision either way.

With no support or leadership from Thieu, the evacuation turned into a costly debacle, as the communists pounded the city with artillery, killing tens of thousands. Many drowned while jostling for room on the boats; with no logistical support, those vessels sent were far too few for the millions of would-be evacuees. Only around 16,000 soldiers were pulled out, and of the almost two million civilians that packed Da Nang, a little more than 50,000 were evacuated. As a result, 70,000 troops were taken prisoner, along with around 100 fighter jets. During the fall of Da Nang no pitched battles had been fought. In quick succession the few remaining cities along the coastline "fell like a row of porcelain vases sliding off a shelf" and half the country had fallen in two weeks. When his hometown of Phan Rang fell, retreating ARVN troops showed their disgust at Thieu by demolishing his family's ancestral shrines and graves.

Communists close in and Thiệu resigns

By this time, the North Vietnamese Politburo no longer felt it necessary to wait until 1976 for the final offensive, and they sought to secure victory within two months before the monsoon. On April 7, Lê Đức Thọ
Le Duc Tho
Lê Đức Thọ , born Phan Đình Khải in Ha Nam province, was a Vietnamese revolutionary, general, diplomat, and politician, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1973, although he declined it....

 arrived at Dung’s headquarters near Loc Ninh to oversee the final battles. Dung prepared a three-pronged attack, which would seize the vital highway intersection at Xuan Loc, the capital of Long Khanh Province and “the gateway to Saigon”, before heading for Bien Hoa
Bien Hoa
Biên Hòa is a city in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, about east of Ho Chi Minh City , to which Bien Hoa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1.- Demographics :In 1989 the estimated population was over 300,000. In 2005, the population wss 541,495...

.

The week-long fighting that erupted on April 8 in and around Xuan Loc was the most significant engagement of the entire offensive. The South Vietnamese eventually committed 25,000 troops to the battle, almost one-third of the remainder of their forces. After conducting a valiant defense, the 18th Division was overwhelmed by the 6:1 numerical ratio, and the communists encircled Saigon.

On April 10 President Ford went to Congress to request a $722 million supplemental military aid package for South Vietnam plus $250 million in economic and refugee aid. Congress was not impressed, and on April 17 the discussion ended. There would be no more military funding for Thiệu.

On April 21, 1975, Thiệu, under intense political pressure, resigned as president after losing the confidence of his closest domestic allies. In his televised farewell speech during which he was close to tears, Thiệu admitted, for the first time, having ordered the evacuation of the Central Highlands and the north that had led to debacle. He then stated that it had been the inevitable course of action in the situation, but blamed the generals.

In a long, rambling and incoherent speech, Thiệu went on to excoriate the U.S., attacking “our great ally...the leader of the free world … The United States has not respected its promises” he declared “It is inhumane. It is not trustworthy. It is irresponsible.” He added, “The United States did not keep its word. Is an American’s word reliable these days?” … and, "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." Thieu bemoaned the American funding cuts, which he equated to desertion, saying "You don't fight by miracles, you need high morale and bravery. But even if you are brave, you can't just stand there and bite the enemy. And we are fighting against Russia and China. We're having to bargain for aid from the United States like haggling for fish in the market and I am not going to continue this bargaining for a few million dollars when your [South Vietnamese soldiers] lives are at stake." He criticised the American policy, saying "You Americans with your 500,000 soldiers in Vietnam! You were not defeated...you ran away!" He lambasted US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for signing the Paris Accords, which the communists violated, and which he regarded as American abandonment, saying "I never thought that such a good Secretary of State would produce a treaty that would bring us to our death". Thieu also blamed the local media and foreign broadcasting organisations for lowering the morale of the military and the population by reporting the corruption and setbacks of his government.

Immediately following the speech, Vice President Tran Van Huong
Tran Van Huong
Trần Văn Hương was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the penultimate president of South Vietnam prior to its surrender to the communist forces of North Vietnam.-Biography:...

 took the top job, but the tide could not be stopped, and the communists overran Saigon on April 30, 1975, ending the war.

Life in exile

In his farewell speech, Thieu said "I resign, but I do not desert", but he fled to Taiwan on a C-118 transport plane five days later. He left with 15 tons of luggage and US$15 million in gold.

He settled in London, United Kingdom. He obtained a visa there because his son was studying at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

. Thieu kept a low profile, and in 1990 even the Foreign Office claimed to have no information on his whereabouts.

In the early 1990s, Thieu took up residence in Foxborough, Massachusetts
Foxborough, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,246 people, 6,141 households, and 4,396 families residing in the town. The population density was 809.1 people per square mile . There were 6,299 housing units at an average density of 313.7 per square mile...

. Thieu lived reclusively in Massachusetts, and took his secrets with him in death. He never produced an autobiography, and rarely assented to interviews and shunned visitors. Neighbors had little contact or knowledge of him, aside from seeing him walking his dog. Thieu’s aversion to public appearances was attributed to a fear of hostility from South Vietnamese who believed that he failed them. Thieu acknowledged his compatriots’ low esteem of his administration in a 1992 interview, but said “You say that you blame me for the fall of South Vietnam, you criticize me, everything. I let you do that. I like to see you do better than I.” The Vietnamese American community heckled Thieu at a rare speech he delivered in Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

—the area with the most Vietnamese in the country—in the early 1990s.

Thieu continually predicted the demise of the Vietnamese Communist Party’s grip on power and warned against the United States establishing diplomatic relations with the communist regime; however, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 did so in 1995. Thieu said that when the communists were deposed and when “democracy is recovered” that he would return to homeland, but their hold on Vietnam remained unchallenged during his life. He offered to represent the refugee community in reconciliation talks with Hanoi to allow exiles to return home, but was ignored by the communist hierarchy.

He died in 2001 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts is a major flagship teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital and New England Deaconess Hospital...

 after collapsing from a stroke at his Foxborough home and being put on a respirator. He was cremated and buried in Boston, Massachusetts.

Wife

In 1951, Thieu married Nguyễn Thị Mai Anh, the daughter of a wealthy herbal medicine practitioner from the Mekong Delta. She was a Roman Catholic, and Thiệu converted in 1958. Critics claimed that Thiệu did so in order to improve his prospects of rising up the military ranks, as Diệm was known to discriminate in favor of Catholics. The couple had two sons and one daughter.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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