Background

Pham Van Dong was born on March 1, 1906, in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. He was a son of Pham Van Nga, a court secretary to the Nguyen emperors, and Pham Thi Thuan.

Education

Pham Van Dong attended Chu Van An High School. He also studied at Quốc Học – Huế High School for the Gifted. In 1925, Dong enrolled in the University of Hanoi, where he began a career of political activism. Soon he ran into trouble with the French authorities in 1925 for organizing a student strike and later he was expelled. In 1926, he traveled to Guangzhou in southern China where he studied at the Chinese Nationalist party's Whampoa Military Academy.

Career

Pham Van Dong returned to Vietnam from China in 1927 and organized the Thanh Nien youth movement. In 1929, he was arrested and spent nearly seven years in Poulo Condor Island Prison. After being released in 1939, he returned to China. Two years later, he helped Ho Chi Minh create the Viet Minh, a Communist-led Vietnamese nationalist group. The Viet Minh were determined to fight to gain Vietnam's independence from French colonial rule.

During World War II, France was forced to give up some of its control over Vietnam. When the war ended in 1945, the Viet Minh launched a successful revolution to regain control of the country. That September, Ho Chi Minh formally declared Vietnam's independence and named himself president of the country. After Ho Chi Minh rose to power, Pham Van Dong became minister of finance of the newly established government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He held this post until 1946. In this position, he represented Vietnam in formal negotiations with the French. But the negotiations fell apart when it became clear that France was not willing to give up its former colony.

War erupted between the French and the Viet Minh in late 1946. During this conflict, which became known as the Indochina War, Pham Van Dong commanded the Viet Minh forces in Quang Ngai province. After nine years of fighting, the Viet Minh defeated the French in 1954. Once again, Pham Van Dong represented the Communists in negotiations with the French. These talks, held in Geneva, Switzerland, produced an agreement known as the Geneva Accords. The Geneva Accords, which ended the Indochina War, divided Vietnam into two sections. The northern section, which was led by a Communist government under Ho Chi Minh, was officially known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam but was usually called North Vietnam. The southern section, which was led by a U.S.-supported government under Ngo Dinh Diem, was known as the Republic of South Vietnam.

Shortly after negotiating the Geneva Accords, Pham Van Dong became premier of the North Vietnamese government. In this position, he introduced a series of changes designed to transform North Vietnam into a Communist nation. For example, he established land reform programs to take land away from wealthy landlords and give it to poor farmers. Pham Van Dong also tried to negotiate an agreement with his old classmate Diem. He proposed that the two sections of Vietnam reduce their levels of troops and begin trading with one another. He also continued to press for free national elections to reunite the country. But Diem and his American advisors refused to compromise with Pham Van Dong. As a result, North Vietnamese leaders became determined to overthrow Diem and reunite the country by force. Within a short time, a new war began between the two sections of Vietnam.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the U.S. government sent money, weapons, and military advisors to help South Vietnam. Pham Van Dong responded by accusing the United States of violating the Geneva Accords and trying to establish South Vietnam as a separate nation. Still, American involvement in the Vietnam War continued to increase. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson authorized U.S. bombing missions over North Vietnam and sent American combat troops to South Vietnam.

But deepening U.S. involvement failed to defeat the Communists. Instead, the Vietnam War turned into a bloody stalemate. As the conflict dragged on, Ho Chi Minh became ill and faded from public view. At the same time, Pham Van Dong's power gradually increased. When Ho died in 1969, Pham Van Dong took charge of the North Vietnamese war effort. He consistently refused to consider any negotiated settlement that did not include a complete withdrawal of American forces and Communist participation in a coalition government in South Vietnam.

In 1973 North Vietnam and the United States finally reached an agreement to end American involvement in Vietnam. Under the terms of the Paris Peace Accord, the United States withdrew its troops from Vietnam later that year. But the peace agreement did not end the Vietnam War. Both North Vietnam and South Vietnam began violating the terms of the treaty within a short time.

Once the American troops left, Pham Van Dong worked to reconstruct North Vietnam and strengthen its economy. Then in 1975 he approved a new military offensive designed to overthrow the government of South Vietnam and reunite the two parts of the country once and for all. This coordinated attack swept across the South Vietnamese countryside in the spring of 1975. In April the Communists captured the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon to win the Vietnam War.

After winning the war, the Communist leaders of North Vietnam reunited the two halves of the country to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In 1976 Pham Van Dong became premier of the new country. He then introduced a series of changes designed to transform Vietnam into a socialist society. For example, the government took control of all farmland and business activities and placed restrictions on the lives of the Vietnamese people. These changes created terrible hardships for the Vietnamese. Before long, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people decided that they could not live under the new government and began fleeing the country as refugees.

Over the next few years, the economic situation in Vietnam continued to deteriorate. Hunger and poverty became widespread problems. Pham Van Dong admitted that his government was struggling to achieve its goal of bringing peace and prosperity to the Vietnamese people.

By the 1980s the situation had become so desperate that the Communist government was forced to make a series of economic reforms. These reforms restored some private property and free-market business incentives in Vietnam. As Vietnamese leaders recognized the need for reform, they began pressuring some of the early Communist leaders to step down. Pham Van Dong resigned from his position as premier in 1986, after more than thirty years in office.

Although retired from public office, he served as an Adviser to the Party Central Committee from December 1986 to 1997. He often urged the party to make greater efforts to stop corruption.

Achievements

• Pham Van Dong is widely known as Premier of North Vietnam, and of the reunited Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He was considered one of Hồ Chí Minh's closest lieutenants and one of the members of the inner "circle of five" top political power holders in Vietnam.
  
  In 1986, Pham Van Dong received the Order of Klement Gottwald. He also received the Gold Star Order in 1990. In addition, his name is also given to many major places in Vietnam.

Politics

Pham Van Dong developed an interest in politics during his college years and became an active member of the Thanh Nien youth league and led a student strike against the French colonial government. He joined the Indochinese Communist Party in 1940 and then continued to take part in activities led by Ho Chi Minh. When Ho died in 1969, Pham Van Dong emerged as the main spokesman for the Communist government of North Vietnam. After North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam and reunited the two halves of the country in 1975, Pham Van Dong served another decade as premier of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Pham Van Dong apparently chose Marxism-Leninism as the proper outlet for his political energies not because of the inherent appeal of Marxist thought but because of the influence of the personality of Ho Chi Minh.

Membership

Pham Van Dong was a member of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly in Vietnam.

• Standing Committee of the National Assembly , Vietnam

  1946 - 1987

Personality

Pham Van Dong's personality was described by those who knew him or worked closely with him as sophisticated, self-assured, and somewhat imperious. He was said to have been highly articulate and a smooth diplomatic negotiator.

Physical Characteristics: As Pham Van Dong became older, his vision deteriorated, and he was blind for the last 10 years of his life.

Connections

Pham Van Dong married Pham Thi Cuc in 1946. The marriage produced a son – Pham Son Duong.

Father:

Pham Van Nga

Mother:

Pham Thi Thuan

Wife:

Pham Thi Cuc

Son:

Pham Son Duong

colleague:

Ho Chi Minh

References

• Historical Dictionary of the War in Vietnam For Southeast Asia, the Vietnam War altered forever the history, topography, people, economy, and politics of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), Cambodia, and Laos. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Vietnam War.
  2011
• Vietnam: State, War, and Revolution (1945–1946) Amidst the revolutionary euphoria of August 1945, most Vietnamese believed that colonialism and war were being left behind in favor of independence and modernization. The late-September British-French coup de force in Saigon cast a pall over such assumptions.
  2013