Home»History and Legacy»Timeline»1975: The Fall of Saigon»South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu Resigns

South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu Resigns

April 21, 1975

Excerpt from President Thieu's resignation speech, April 21, 1975
Excerpt from President Thieu's resignation speech, April 21, 1975
Excerpt from President Thieu's resignation speech, April 21, 1975

South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resigns in favor of Vice President Tran Van Huong. He is a respected 72-year-old, Harvard-educated veteran of the Viet Minh. Unable to initiate negotiations with North Vietnam, he turns the government over to General Duong Van “Big” Minh six days later.1

1Spencer C. Tucker, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 1998), 841, 1138; George R. Dunham, The Bitter End, 1973–1975, U.S. Marines in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Marine Corps History and Museums Division, 1990), 168; Edwin E. Moise, The A to Z of the Vietnam War (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2005), 404–5.