Nguyen Van Thieu was born in 1923 in Tri Thuy Village, Ninh Hai District, Ninh Thuan Province. He was trained at the National Officer’s School in Da Lat and subsequently in the United States and France.
Having taken part in the coup d’état against President Ngo Dinh Diem in November 1963, he quickly rose to power, becoming Prime Minister with the associated portfolios of Minister of Defence and National Assembly President, then President of the Republic of Vietnam in 1967.
On March 25, 1975, Thieu wrote to the U.S. President appealing for an air strikes against the areas controlled by the Vietnamese Revolutionary Forces and for continued American support for the South Vietnam. His appeal was rejected.
He resigned on April 21, 1975, and then fled the country. Nguyen Van Thieu died in Boston, USA, in 2001.
