Nguyen Van Thieu (1923–2001)

Vietnamese soldier and political leader. In 1963, as chief of staff of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), he was a leader in the coup against Ngo Dinh Diem. He became deputy premier and minister of defence in 1964, and head of state in 1965. In 1967, as the war against the Vietcong escalated, he became president of the Republic of Vietnam, and in early 1973 was a signatory to the peace treaty that formally ended hostilities. Fighting between North and South continued until the communist victory in 1975 with the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), when Thieu took refuge first in Taiwan, then the UK, finally settling in the USA.

Born in Ninh Thuan, he was educated at a Catholic school and at the national military academy in Hué. His military career began in the late 1940s. He joined the French army and received a military education in France, which led to a commission in the new Vietnamese army created in 1951. He received further military training in the USA, and was a colonel by 1963.