The longest-serving General Secretary who reunified Vietnam and invaded Cambodia in his 26-year rule
“Our party is the unique and single leader that organised… the entire struggle of the Vietnamese people from the first day of the revolution.” — reunification victory speech, 1976
A Vietnamese communist politician and theorist. A founding member of the Indochina Communist Party in 1930, he endured two French prison terms before earning Ho Chi Minh's trust and taking charge of the southern revolutionary apparatus. In 1956 he authored The Road to the South, providing the theoretical basis for the armed liberation struggle against the Saigon regime, and at the 3rd National Congress in 1960 he was elected First Secretary, becoming the party's supreme leader after Ho's death in 1969. He completed Vietnam's reunification in 1975, ordered the invasion of Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge in 1978, and held power through the Sino-Vietnamese War (1979) until his death in 1986.
Career Timeline
- 1928–1930Joined Revolutionary Youth League; co-founded Indochina Communist Party
- 1931–1945Imprisoned twice; freed by August Revolution, gained Ho Chi Minh's trust
- 1951–1954Headed COSVN, directing southern front of anti-French war
- 1956Authored The Road to the South — theoretical basis for armed struggle in the South
- 1960–1969First Secretary, Vietnam Workers' Party — de facto war leader against the US
- 1969–1986Supreme leader — reunification (1975), Cambodia invasion (1978), Sino-Vietnam War (1979)