Duong Van Minh Dương Văn Minh ( ) ( 16 February 1916 – 6 August 2001 ) , popularly known as " Big Minh " , was a Vietnamese general and politician . He was a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam ( ARVN ) during the rule of Ngo Dinh Diem . In 1963 , he became president of the Republic after leading a coup in which Diệm was assassinated . Minh lasted only three months before being toppled by Nguyễn Khánh , but assumed power again in April 1975 , two days before surrendering to communist forces . Biography . The son of a wealthy landlord , Minh joined the French Army at the start of World War II , and was captured and tortured by the Imperial Japan ese , who invaded and seized French Indochina . During this time , Minh ' s teeth were plucked out , leaving him with his distinctive smile . After his release , he joined the French - backed Vietnamese National Army ( VNA ) and was imprisoned by the communist - dominated Viet Minh before breaking out . In 1955 , when Vietnam was partitioned and the State of Vietnam controlled the southern half under Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem , Minh led the VNA in decisively defeating the Binh Xuyen paramilitary crime syndicate in street combat and dismantling the Hòa Hảo religious tradition ' s private army . This made him popular with the people and Diệm , but the latter later put him in a powerless position , regarding him as a threat . In 1963 , the authoritarian Diệm became increasingly unpopular due to the Buddhist crisis and the ARVN generals decided to launch a coup , which Minh eventually led . Diệm was assassinated on 2 November 1963 shortly after being deposed . Minh was accused of ordering an aide , Nguyen Van Nhung , to kill Diệm . Minh then led a junta for three months , but he was an unsuccessful leader and was heavily criticized for being lethargic and uninterested . During his three months of rule , many civilian problems intensified and the communists made significant gains . Angered at not receiving his desired post , General Nguyễn Khánh led a group of similarly motivated officers in a bloodless coup in January 1964 . Khánh allowed Minh to stay on as a token head of state in order to capitalize on Minh ' s public standing , but Khánh had the real power . In the meantime , Khánh had four of Minh ' s colleagues tried and put under house arrest on purported charges of promoting neutralism and a truce with the communists . After a power struggle , Khanh had Minh exiled . Minh stayed away before deciding to return and challenge General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in the presidential election of 1971 . When it became obvious that Thieu would rig the poll , Minh withdrew and did not return until 1972 , keeping a low profile . Minh then advocated a " third force " , maintaining that Vietnam could be reunified without a military victory to a hardline communist or anti - communist government . However , this was not something that Thiệu agreed with . In April 1975 , as South Vietnam was on the verge of being overrun , Thieu resigned . A week later , Minh was chosen by the legislature and became president on 28 April 1975 . It was thought that Minh would be able to negotiate a cease - fire due to his policy stance , but the communists were on the verge of gaining absolute power , so they pushed on . Saigon fell two days later on 30 April , and Minh ordered the surrender to prevent bloody urban street fighting . Minh was spared the lengthy incarceration meted out to South Vietnamese military personnel and civil servants , and lived quietly until being allowed to emigrate to France in 1983 . He later moved to California , where he died . He remains a controversial figure among supporters of South Vietnam due to his decision to surrender rather than fight to the death . He earned his nickname " Big Minh " , because at approximately 1 . 83 m ( 6 ft ) tall and weighing 90 kg ( 198 lb ) , he was much larger than the average Vietnamese . The nickname also served to distinguish him from another South Vietnamese general , Trần Văn Minh , who was known as " Little Minh " . Early years . Minh was born on 16 February 1916 in Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong Delta , the son of a wealthy landowner who served in a prominent position in the Finance Ministry of the French colonial administration . He went to Saigon where he attended a top French colonial school , where King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia also studied . Unlike many of his classmates , Minh declined French citizenship and joined the " Corps Indigène " , the local component of the French colonial army . He began his military career in 1940 , and was one of only 50 Vietnamese officers to be commissioned when he graduated from the " École Militaire " in France . During the 1940s , Imperial Japan invaded Indochina and seized control from France . Minh was captured and later had only a single tooth that remained from the torture he had suffered at the hands of the " Kempeitai " ( Japanese military police ) . He always smiled , displaying the single tooth , which he regarded as a symbol of his toughness . Vietnamese National Army / battles against Bình Xuyên and Hòa Hảo . Minh then transferred to the French - backed State of Vietnam ' s Vietnamese National Army in 1952 . In 1954 , Minh was captured by the Việt Minh . He escaped after strangling a communist guard and fighting off a few others . In May 1955 , he led VNA forces in the Battle of Saigon , when they dismantled the private army of the Bình Xuyên crime syndicate in urban warfare in the district of Chợ Lớn . With the Bình Xuyên vanquished , Diệm turned his attention to conquering the Hòa Hảo . As a result , a battle between Minh ' s VNA troops and Ba Cụt ' s men commenced in Cần Thơ on 5 June . Five Hòa Hảo battalions surrendered immediately ; Ba Cụt and three remaining leaders had fled to the Cambodia n border by the end of the month . The soldiers of the three other leaders eventually surrendered in the face of Minh ' s onslaught , but Ba Cụt ' s men fought to the end . Understanding that they could not defeat Minh ' s men in open conventional warfare , Ba Cụt ' s forces destroyed their own bases so that the VNA could not use their abandoned resources , and retreated into the jungle . Ba Cụt ' s 3 , 000 men spent the rest of 1955 evading the 20 , 000 VNA troops commanded by Minh . Ba Cụt was arrested by a patrol on 13 April 1956 , and later executed , and his remaining forces were defeated by Minh . The victories over the Hòa Hảo and the Bình Xuyên were the zenith of Minh ' s battlefield career . When Minh arrived at a military parade in his jeep before the reviewing stand after the victories , Diệm embraced him and kissed both cheeks . He was particularly popular among the population of Saigon , having purged their city of the Bình Xuyên . This earned him the respect of U . S . officials and he was sent to the United States to study , despite his poor English , at the U . S . Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth , Kansas . In November 1960 , a coup attempt was made against Diệm . Minh , by this time disillusioned , did not come to Diệm ' s defense during the siege and instead stayed at his Saigon home . Diệm responded by appointing Minh to the post of Presidential Military Advisor , where he had no influence or troops to command in case the thought of coup ever crossed his mind . According to Howard Jones , Minh was " in charge of three telephones " , and remained in the post until Diệm ' s overthrow . Overthrow of Diệm . Minh and Trần Văn Đôn , the ARVN Chief of Staff who had no troops due to Diệm ' s suspicion of him , went to observe the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization ( SEATO ) ' s military exercises in Thailand , where they were informed about the regional disquiet over Diệm ' s policies toward Buddhists . Minh frequently railed against Diệm in his September meeting with Lodge , decrying the police state that was being created by the Cần Lao Party of the Ngô family . Harkins reported that Minh " has done nothing but complain to me about the government and the way it is handled since I have been here " . Harkins was skeptical about Minh ' s claims of widespread public disenchantment . During late - September , President Kennedy dispatched the McNamara Taylor mission to investigate the political and military situation in South Vietnam . This included investigating an ARVN coup . Minh expressed an interest in meeting McNamara and Taylor , so a game of doubles tennis was organized . McNamara watched on as Taylor played with Minh , giving " broad hints of our interest in other subjects which we gave him during breaks in the game " . Minh revealed nothing of his thoughts about a possible coup , leaving his guests bewildered . Minh later messaged Taylor with a complaint about a perceived lack of support from Washington for a coup . Diệm became very unpopular during the Buddhist crisis of 1963 ; the U . S . informed the Vietnamese generals ( through the CIA ) that it would not object if Diệm were to be overthrown . Minh was the second highest ranking general at the time , and he led the coup to overthrow Diệm on 1 November 1963 . In the afternoon , Minh ordered his bodyguard , Nguyễn Văn Nhung , to arrest , and later execute , Colonel Lê Quang Tung , one of Diệm ' s closest and most faithful associates . The generals hated Tung , because , at Ngô Đình Nhu ' s instructions , he had disguised his men in regular army uniforms and framed them for the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids several months earlier , in August . At nightfall , Nhung took Tung and Major Lê Quảng Trịeu , his brother and deputy and drove them to the edge of the air base . Forced to kneel over two freshly dug holes , the brothers were shot into their graves and buried . In the early morning of 2 November , Diệm agreed to surrender . The ARVN officers had reportedly originally intended merely to exile Diệm and Nhu , having promised them safe passage " . Minh and Đôn asked Lucien Conein to secure an American aircraft to take the brothers out of the country . Assistant Secretary of State Roger Hilsman recommended that if the generals decide to exile Diệm , he should also be sent outside Southeast Asia . He went on to anticipate what he termed a " Götterdämmerung in the palace " . Minh then went to Gia Long Palace , and Minh sent an armored personnel carrier to transport Diệm and Nhu , while the others prepared for the ceremonial and televised handover of power to the junta . Minh arrived in full military ceremonial uniform to supervise the arrest of the Ngô brothers , only to find that they had escaped and humiliated him , having talked to him from a safe house . Minh was reported to be mortified when he realised that Diệm and Nhu had escaped in the middle of the night leaving the rebels to fight for an empty building . However , Diệm ' s hideout was found and surrounded , and Minh sent General Mai Hữu Xuân , his deputy Colonel Nguyễn Văn Quan , his bodyguard Nguyễn Văn Nhung and Dương Hiếu Nghĩa to arrest both brothers . Nhung and Nghĩa sat with the brothers in the APC as the convoy headed off after the arrest . Before the convoy had departed for the church , Minh was reported to have gestured to Nhung with two fingers . This was taken to be an order to kill both brothers . During the journey , the brothers were killed . An investigation by Đôn later determined that Nghĩa and Nhung sprayed them with bullets before repeatedly stabbing them . When the corpses arrived at military headquarters , the generals were shocked . Đôn ordered another general to tell reporters that the brothers had died in an accident and went to confront Minh in his office . Đôn later reported that Minh had answered his question in a " haughty " tone . At this time , Xuân walked into Minh ' s office through the open door , unaware of Đôn ' s presence . Xuân snapped to attention and stated " " Mission accomplie " " . Minh had his subordinates report that the Ngô brothers had committed suicide . Unclear and contradictory stories abounded on the exact method used by the brothers . Minh said " Due to an inadvertence , there was a gun inside the vehicle . It was with this gun that they committed suicide . " Conein soon realized that the generals ' story was false . Soon after , photos of the bloodied corpses of the brothers appeared in the media , discrediting the generals ' lies . Đôn ' s assertion that the assassinations were unplanned proved sufficient for Lodge , who told the State Department that " I am sure assassination was not at their direction . " Minh and Đôn reiterated reiterated their position in a meeting with Conein and Lodge a few days after the coup . Culpability regarding killings of Diệm and Nhu . The assassinations caused a split within the junta and repulsed world opinion . The killings damaged the public belief that the new regime would be an improvement over Diệm , throwing the generals into discord . Criticism over the killings caused the officers to battle one another for positions in the new government . The responsibility for the assassinations has generally been laid at the doorstep of Minh . Conein asserted that " " I have it on very good authority of very many people , that Big Minh gave the order " " , as did William Colby , the director of the CIA ' s Far Eastern division . Đôn , however , was equally emphatic , saying " " I can state without equivocation that this was done by General Dương Văn Minh and by him alone . " " Lodge believed Xuân was at least partly culpable , asserting : " " Diem and Nhu had been assassinated , if not by Xuan personally , at least at his direction . " " Some months after the event , Minh was reported to have privately told an American official that " " We had no alternative . They had to be killed . Diệm could not be allowed to live because he was too much respected among simple , gullible people in the countryside , especially the Catholics and the refugees . We had to kill Nhu because he was so widely feared — and he had created organizations that were arms of his personal power . " " When Nguyễn Văn Thiệu became president , Minh blamed him for the assassinations . In 1971 , Minh claimed that Thiệu had caused the deaths by hesitating and delaying the attack by his 5th Division on Gia Long Palace . Đôn was reported to have pressured Thieu during the night of the siege , asking him on the phone " Why are you so slow in doing it ? Do you need more troops ? If you do , ask Đính to send more troops — and do it quickly because after taking the palace you will be made a general . " Thiệu denied responsibility and issued a statement : " " Duong Van Minh has to assume entire responsibility for the death of Ngo Dinh Diem . " " Trần Văn Hương , an opposition politician who was jailed by Diệm , and a future prime minister and president , gave a scathing analysis of the generals ' action . He said " " The top generals who decided to murder Diem and his brother were scared to death . The generals knew very well that having no talent , no moral virtues , no political support whatsoever , they could not prevent a spectacular comeback of the president and Mr . Nhu if they were alive . " " Conein asserted that Minh ' s humiliation by Diệm and Nhu was a major motivation for ordering their executions . Conein reasoned that the brothers were doomed to death once they escaped from the palace , instead of surrendering and accepting the offer of safe exile . Having successfully stormed the palace , Minh had arrived at the presidential residence in full ceremonial military uniform " with a sedan and everything else " . Conein described Minh as a " very proud man " who had lost face by turning up at the palace , ready to claim victory , only to find an empty building . He claimed that Diệm and Nhu would not have been killed if they were in the palace , because there were too many people present . Rule . Minh took over the government under a military junta on 6 November , which consisted of 12 generals . To give the regime a civilian veneer , Diệm ' s figurehead Vice President , Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ , was appointed Prime Minister of a provisional civilian government overseen by the Military Revolutionary Council ( MRC ) . Despite his nominally being the second most important person in the Diệm regime , Thơ was a figurehead with little influence , which lay with Diệm ' s brothers . Diệm held Thơ in contempt and did not allow him to take part in policy decisions . Tho entered into intensive bargaining with Minh on 2 November on the composition of the interim government . Thơ knew that the generals wanted to have him head a new government to provide continuity , and he used this as leverage in bargaining with them about the makeup of the cabinet . The Americans recognized Minh and immediately restored the aid programs and that had been cut to punish Diệm in the last days of his rule . With the fall of Diệm , various American sanctions that were imposed in response to the repression of the Buddhist crisis and Nhu ' s Special Forces ' attacks on the Xá Lợi Pagoda , were lifted . The freeze on US economic aid , the suspension of the Commercial Import Program and various capital works initiatives were lifted , and Thơ and Minh were recognised . The first order of the new regime was Provisional Constitutional Act No . 1 , signed by Minh , formally suspending the 1956 constitution created by Diệm . Minh was said to have preferred playing mah - jongg , playing tennis at the elite Cercle Sportif , tending to his garden and giving tea parties to fighting the Vietcong or running the country . He was criticised for being lethargic and uninterested . Stanley Karnow said " He was a model of lethargy , lacking both the skill and the inclination to govern " . According to Karnow , Minh lamented to him that because of his role as the junta head , he " didn ' t have enough time to grow his orchids or play tennis " . Saigon newspapers , which Minh had allowed to re - open following the end of Diệm ' s censorship , reported that the junta was paralysed because all twelve generals in the MRC had equal power . Each member had the power of veto , enabling them to stonewall policy decisions . Thơ ' s civilian government was plagued by infighting . According to Thơ ' s assistant , Nguyễn Ngọc Huy , the presence of Generals Đôn and Đính in both the civilian cabinet and the MRC paralysed the governance process . Đính and Đôn were subordinate to Tho in the civilian government , but as members of the MRC they were superior to him . Whenever Thơ gave an order in the civilian hierarchy with which the generals disagreed , they would go to the MRC and make a counter - order . The press strongly attacked Thơ , accusing his civilian government of being " tools " of the MRC . Thơ ' s acquiescence to and corruption under Diệm ' s presidency was also called into question , and he was accused of helping to repress the Buddhists by Diệm and Nhu . Tho claimed that he had countenanced the pagoda raids , claiming that he would have resigned were it not for Minh ' s pleas to stay . Minh defended Thơ ' s anti - Diệm credentials by declaring that Tho had taken part in the planning of the coup " from the very outset " and that he enjoyed the " full confidence " of the junta . On 1 January 1964 , a ' Council of Notables ' comprising sixty leading citizens met for the first time , having been selected by Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo for Minh ' s junta . Its job was to advise the military and civilian wings of the government with a view towards reforming human rights , the constitution and the legal system . The council consisted almost entirely of professionals and academic leaders , with no representatives from the agricultural or labour movement . It soon became engaged in endless debate and never achieved its initial task of drafting a new constitution . Minh and Thơ halted Nhu ' s Strategic Hamlet Program . Nhu had trumpeted the program as the solution to South Vietnam ' s difficulties with Viet Cong insurgents , believing that the mass relocation of peasants into fortified villages would isolate the Vietcong from their peasant support base . According to the junta , only 20 % of the 8 , 600 existing strategic hamlets were under Saigon ' s control , with the rest having been taken over by the communists , contradicting Nhu ' s claims of widespread success . Those hamlets that were deemed to be tenable were consolidated , while the remainder were dismantled and their inhabitants returned to their ancestral land . Under Minh ' s rule , there was a large turnover of officials aligned with Diệm . Many were indiscriminately arrested without charge , most of whom were later released . Đính and the new national police chief General Mai Hữu Xuân were given control of the interior ministry and were accused of arresting people en masse , before releasing them in return for bribes and pledges of loyalty . The government was criticised for firing large numbers of district and provincial chiefs directly appointed by Diệm , causing a breakdown in law and order during the abrupt transition of power . The provisional government lacked direction in policy and planning , resulting in its quick collapse . The number of rural attacks instigated by the Vietcong surged in the wake of Diệm ' s deposal , due to the displacement of troops into urban areas for the coup . The increasingly free discussion generated from the surfacing of new and accurate data following the coup revealed that the military situation was far worse than what was reported by Diệm . The incidence of Vietcong attacks continued to increase as it had done during the summer of 1963 , the weapons loss ratio worsened and the rate of Vietcong defections fell . The units that participated in the coup were returned to the field to guard against a possible major communist offensive in the countryside . The falsification of military statistics by Diệm ' s officials had led to miscalculations , which manifested themselves in military setbacks after Diệm ' s death . Overthrow by Nguyễn Khánh . General Nguyễn Khánh began to plot against the MRC after it was created . Khánh expected a large reward for his part in the coup , but the other generals regarded him as untrustworthy and excluded him from the MRC . They further moved him to the command of the I Corps in the far north to keep him far away from Saigon . Khánh later claimed that he had built up intelligence infrastructure to weed out the Vietcong under Diệm , but that Minh ' s MRC had disbanded it and released communist prisoners . Khánh was assisted by Generals Trần Thiện Khiêm , who controlled the forces around Saigon , Ðỗ Mậu and Nguyễn Chánh Thi . Khánh and his colleagues spread rumours to American officials that Minh and his colleagues were about to declare South Vietnam ' s neutrality and sign a peace deal to end the war with the North . Khánh overthrew Minh and his colleagues on 30 January 1964 , in a bloodless coup , completely catching the MRC off guard . Minh , Đôn and Lê Văn Kim woke up to find hostile forces surrounding their houses and thought it to be a quixotic stunt by some disgruntled young officers . Khánh used the coup to enact retribution against Minh , Đôn , Kim , Đính and Xuân . He had them arrested , claiming that they were part of a neutralist plot with the French . Khánh cited their service in the Vietnamese National Army in the early 1950s , under the French colonial administration as evidence , although he did as well . Khánh also had Major Nhung , the bodyguard of Minh , shot , causing riots among parts of the population who feared that Khánh would wind back the clock to the Diệm era . Khánh later persuaded Minh to remain as a figurehead head of state . This was partly due to pressure from American officials , who felt that the popular Minh would be a unifying and stabilising factor in the new regime . However , Khánh soon sidelined Minh . Minh reportedly resented that fact that he had been deposed by a younger officer who he viewed as an unscrupulous upstart . He was also upset with the detention of his fellow generals and around 30 of his junior officers . The junior officers were set free when Minh demanded that Khánh release them in return for his service . In the meantime , Khánh could not substantiate his claims against the generals . Khánh presided over the trial , which took place in May . Minh was perfunctorily accused of misusing a small amount of money , before being allowed to serve as an advisor on the trial panel . The other generals were eventually asked by Khánh to " once you begin to serve again in the army , you do not take revenge on anybody " . The tribunal then " congratulated " the generals , but found that they were of " lax morality " , unqualified to command due to a " lack of a clear political concept " and confined to desk jobs . Khánh ' s actions left divisions among the officers of the ARVN . When Khánh was himself deposed in 1965 , he handed over dossiers proving that Minh and the other generals were innocent . Robert Shaplen said that " the case … continued to be one of Khánh ' s biggest embarrassments " . August and September power struggle with Khánh . In August , Khánh drafted a new constitution , which would have augmented his personal power and hamstrung Minh of what authority he had left as well as ousting him from power . However , this only served to weaken Khánh as large urban demonstrations broke out , led by Buddhists , calling for an end to the state of emergency and the new constitution . In response to claims that he was harking back to the Diệm era of Roman Catholic domination , Khánh made concessions to the Buddhists , sparking opposition from Khiêm and Thiệu , both Catholics . They then tried to remove him in favour of Minh , and they recruited many officers . Khiêm and Thiệu sought out Taylor and sought a private endorsement to install Minh by staging a coup against Khánh , but the U . S . ambassador did not want any more changes in leadership , fearing a corrosive effect on the government . This deterred Khiêm ' s group from staging a coup . The division among the generals came to a head at a meeting of the MRC on 26 – 27 August . Khánh and Khiêm blamed one another for the increasing unrest across the nation . Thiệu and another Catholic , General Nguyễn Hữu Có , called for the replacement of Khánh with Minh , but the latter refused . Minh reportedly claimed that Khánh was the only one who would get financial assistance from Washington , so they supported him , prompting Khiêm to angrily say , " Obviously , Khánh is a puppet of the U . S . government , and we are tired of being told by the Americans how we should run our internal affairs " . Khánh said that he would resign , but no agreement over the leadership could be found , and after more arguing between the senior officers , on 27 August they agreed that Khánh , Minh , and Khiêm would rule as a triumvirate for two months , until a new civilian government could be formed . The trio then brought paratroopers into Saigon to end the rioting . However , the triumvirate did little due to their disunity . Khánh dominated the decision - making and sidelined Khiêm and Minh . On 13 September , Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức , both Roman Catholics demoted by Khánh after Buddhist pressure , launched a coup attempt with the support of Catholic elements . After a one - day stand - off the putsch failed . During the coup , Minh had remained aloof from the proceedings , angering Khánh and keeping their long - running rivalry going . By the end of October , the Johnson administration became more supportive of Taylor ' s negative opinion of Minh and concluded that U . S . interests would be optimized if Khánh prevailed in the power struggle . As a result , the Americans eventually paid for Minh to go on a " good will tour " so that he could be pushed off the political scene without embarrassment , while Khiêm was exiled to Washington as an ambassador after being implicated in the coup . A short while earlier in September , before Minh was sent overseas , the junta decided to create a semblance of civilian rule by creating the High National Council ( HNC ) , an appointed advisory body that was to begin the transitional to constitutional rule . Khánh put Minh in charge of picking the 17 members of the group , and he filled it with figures sympathetic to him . They then made a resolution to recommend a model with a powerful head of state , which would likely be Minh . Khánh did not want his rival taking power , so he and the Americans convinced the HNC to dilute the power inherent in the position to make it unappealing to Minh . The HNC then selected Phan Khắc Sửu as chief of state , and Sửu selected Trần Văn Hương as prime minister , although the junta remained the real power . By the end of the year , Minh was back in Vietnam after his tour . Khánh prevails . Khánh and a group of younger officers decided to forcibly retire officers with more than 25 years of service , such as Minh and the other generals deposed in Khánh ' s January coup ; nominally this was because they thought them to be lethargic and ineffective , but tacitly , and far more importantly , because they were potential rivals for power . According to Khánh and the Young Turks , the group was led by Minh and had been making plots with the Buddhists to regain power . Sửu ' s signature was required to pass the ruling , but he referred the matter to the HNC , which turned down the request . On 19 December , the generals dissolved the HNC ; several of its members , other politicians and student leaders were arrested , while Minh and the other older generals were arrested and flown to Pleiku , and later removed from the military . Exile . Minh went into exile in Bangkok , where he occupied himself with hobbies such as gardening and playing tennis . He still had many American friends , especially among the CIA , who gave him support during this period and paid for his dental bills . The U . S . ambassador , Ellsworth Bunker , was openly contemptuous of him and referred to him in public with obscenities . In return , he wrote a pro - war article for the respected " Foreign Affairs " quarterly in 1968 , condemning the communists and rejecting a power - sharing agreement . This helped to end his exile , with the support of the United States . Minh opposed General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu , who was still supported by the United States . Minh was going to run against Thiệu in the 1971 election but he withdrew because it became obvious to him ( and most other observers ) that the election would be rigged , due to a series of restrictions against would - be opponents . Thiệu was then the only candidate and retained power . Minh kept a low profile after this and was relatively politically inert . Minh was regarded as a potential leader of a " third force " which could come to a compromise with the North that would allow eventual reunification without a military takeover by one of the parties . His brother , Dương Văn Nhut , was a one - star general in the North Vietnam ese army . In 1973 , Minh proposed his own political program for Vietnam , which was a middle way between the proposals of Thiệu and the communists . Thiệu , however , reportedly opposed any compromise . Second presidency . In late - April 1975 , President Thiệu fled to Taiwan and handed over power to Vice President Trần Văn Hương on 21 April . Hương prepared for peace talks with North Vietnam . However , after his overtures were rejected , he resigned . As the main attack on Saigon developed on 27 April 1975 , in a joint sitting of the bicameral National Assembly , the presidency was unanimously handed over to Minh , who was sworn in the following day . The French government thought that Minh could broker a cease - fire and had advocated his ascension to power . There was also an assumption that , as Minh had a reputation for indecision , the various groups thought that they could manipulate him for their own ends relatively easily . It was widely assumed that Minh , who had long - standing contacts with the communists , would be able to establish a cease - fire and re - open negotiations . This expectation was totally unrealistic , as the North Vietnamese were in an overwhelmingly dominant position on the battlefield and final victory was within reach , so they saw no need for power - sharing , regardless of any political changes in Saigon . On 28 April 1975 , North Vietnam ese forces fought their way into the outskirts of the capital . Later that afternoon , as President Minh finished his acceptance speech , in which he called for an immediate cease - fire and peace talks , a formation of five A - 37 s , captured from the South Vietnamese Air Force , bombed Tân Sơn Nhứt . As Biên Hòa fell , General Nguyễn Văn Toàn , the III Corps commander , fled to Saigon , saying that most of the top ARVN leadership had virtually resigned themselves to defeat . The inauguration of Minh had served as a signal to South Vietnamese officers who would not compromise with the communists . They began to pack up and leave , or commit suicide to avoid capture . PAVN columns advanced into the city center encountering very little resistance . Except in the Mekong Delta , where South Vietnamese military forces were still intact and aggressive , the South Vietnamese military had virtually ceased to exist . Just after 05 : 00 on 30 April , U . S . Ambassador Martin boarded a helicopter and departed . At 10 : 24 , President Minh went on radio and ordered all South Vietnamese forces to cease fighting and later declared an unconditional surrender . He announced , " The Republic of Vietnam policy is the policy of peace and reconciliation , aimed at saving the blood of our people . We are here waiting for the Provisional Revolutionary Government to hand over the authority in order to stop useless bloodshed . " Upon receiving the order to surrender , Generals Nguyễn Khoa Nam and Lê Văn Hưng , the commander and deputy commander of IV Corps , which was still vigorously fighting in Cần Thơ in the Mekong Delta region area not yet overrun , committed suicide , having decided to fight to the death . They gathered their staff and family to say farewell before shooting themselves ; the populace purportedly did not want to them to fight to the death , believing it would cause futile bloodshed . Around noon , a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates of the Independence Palace . When the communist troops entered the Independence Palace in Saigon , they found Minh and his cabinet sitting around the big oval table in the cabinet room waiting for them . As they entered , Minh said " The revolution is here . You are here . " He added , " We have been waiting for you so that we could turn over the government . " The ranking North Vietnamese officer , Colonel Bùi Tín replied , " There is no question of your transferring power . Your power has crumbled . You cannot give up what you do not have . " Later in the afternoon , he went on radio again and said , " I declare the Saigon government is completely dissolved at all levels . " After his official surrender , he was summoned to report back . After a few days he was permitted to return to his villa , unlike almost all remaining military personnel and public servants , who were sent to reeducation camp s , often for over a decade in the case of senior officers . He lived there in seclusion for eight years , where he continued to raise birds and grow exotic orchids . It was assumed that Hanoi had resolved that as Minh had not actively opposed them in the final years of the war , he would be allowed to live in peace as long as he remained quiet and did not engage in political activities . Life in exile . Minh was allowed to emigrate to France in 1983 and settled near Paris , and it was again assumed that the communists had permitted him to leave on the basis that he remain aloof from politics and history . In the late 1980s , there was speculation he would be allowed to return to Vietnam to live out his last years , but this did not happen . In the last few years of his life , he lived in Pasadena , California with his daughter , Mai Duong . He later needed a wheelchair for mobility . In exile , Minh kept his silence , did not talk about the events in Vietnam and did not produce a memoir . As well , Minh ' s death wasn ' t mourned by many among overseas Vietnamese , who are still angry at him for ordering South Vietnamese soldiers to put their weapons down . Death . On 5 August 2001 , Minh fell at his home in Pasadena , California . He was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and he died the next night at the age of 85 . He was buried in Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier , California .