page_title: Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
section_title: Tet Offensive
hierarchical_section_title: Nguyễn Văn Thiệu / Tet Offensive
caption_attribution_description: English: Spiro T. Agnew, Gerald R. Ford, President Thieu of Vietnam, and Carl Albert posing for a picture. April 5, 1973
context_page_description: Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, was the president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, became head of a military junta in 1965, and then president after winning an election in 1967. He established rule over South Vietnam until he resigned and left the nation a few days before the fall of Saigon and the ultimate North Vietnamese victory.
  Born in Phan Rang in the south central coast of Vietnam, Thieu joined the communist-dominated Việt Minh of Hồ Chí Minh in 1945 but quit after a year and joined the Vietnamese National Army of the French-backed State of Vietnam. He gradually rose up the ranks and, in 1954, led a battalion in expelling the communists from his native village. Following the withdrawal of the French, the VNA became the ARVN and Thiệu was the head of the Vietnamese National Military Academy for four years before becoming a division commander and colonel. In November 1960, he helped put down a coup attempt against President Ngô Đình Diệm.
context_section_description: During the Lunar New Year of 1968, the communists launched a massive attack on the cities of Vietnam in an attempt to topple Thiệu and reunify the country under their rule. At the time of the attack on Saigon, Thiệu was out of town, having travelled to celebrate the new year at his wife's family's home at Mỹ Tho in the Mekong Delta. Kỳ, who was still in the capital, stepped into the spotlight and took command, organising the military forces in Saigon in the battle. The ARVN and the Americans repelled the communist onslaught. Kỳ's overshadowing of his superior during South Vietnam's deepest crisis further strained relations between the two men.
  Although the communists were repelled and suffered heavy losses, South Vietnam suffered heavily as the conflict reached the cities for the first time in a substantial way. As ARVN troops were pulled back to defend the towns, the Việt Cộng gained in the countryside. The violence and destruction witnessed damaged public confidence in Thiệu, who apparently couldn't protect the citizens.
  Thiệu's regime estimated the civilian dead at 14,300 with 24,000 wounded. 630,000 new refugees had been generated, joining the nearly 800,000 others already displaced by the war. By the end of 1968, 8% of the populace was living in a refugee camp. More than 70,000 homes had been destroyed and the nation's infrastructure was severely damaged. 1968 became the deadliest year of the war to date for South Vietnam, with 27,915 men killed.
  In the wake of the offensive, however, Thiệu's regime became more energetic. On 1 February, Thiệu declared martial law, and in June, the National Assembly approved his request for a general mobilization of the population and the induction of 200,000 draftees into the armed forces by the end of the year; the bill had been blocked before the Tết Offensive. This would increase South Vietnam's military to more than 900,000 men.
  Mobilization and token anti-corruption campaigns were carried out. Three of the four ARVN corps commanders were replaced for poor performance during the offensive. Thiệu also established a National Recovery Committee to oversee food distribution, resettlement, and housing construction for the new refugees. The government perceived a new determination among the ordinary citizens, especially among previously apathetic urbanites who were angered by the communist attacks.
  Thiệu used the period to consolidate his personal power. His only real political rival was Vice President Kỳ. In the aftermath of Tết, Kỳ supporters in the military and the administration were quickly removed from power, arrested, or exiled. A crack-down on the South Vietnamese press followed and there was a return of some of Diệm's Cần Lao members to positions of power. Within six months, the populace began to call him "the little dictator". Over the next few years, Kỳ became increasingly sidelined to the point of irrelevance.
caption: (Left to right) Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, House Minority Leader (later President) Gerald R. Ford, President Thieu, Ambassador to South Vietnam Graham Martin and Speaker of the House Carl Albert posing for a picture on 5 April 1973
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