Career
He joined the Vietnamese National Popular League (or Liên Việt) in 1948, Communist Party in 1949, and was kept in detention from 1950-1952. He later came to support the 1954 Geneva agreements, but opposed the government of South Vietnam"s president, Ngô Đình Diệm. In August 1954, he founded the Committee in Defense of Peace and the Geneva Agreements.
He remained in detention until 1961, when he managed to escape.
In 1965, he delivered an anti-imperialist speech, a booklet was later published in English, entitled SPEECH. In 1969, he came Chairman of the Consultative Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, a post he retained until South Vietnam was incorporated into North Vietnam in 1976. In the newly re-unified Vietnam, he served as one of the vice presidents until the death of Tôn Đức Thắng, when he was named acting president (April 1980 — July 1981), a post he held until the appointment of Trường Chinh, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, in July 1981.
On relinquishing the post of president, he assumed the role of Chairman of the National Assembly until 1987. He was vice-chairman of the council of state 1981-1992.
Nguyen died on 24 December 1996 when he was 86.