Pham Van Dong

Pham Van Dong: see Dong, Pham Van.

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Pham Van Dong 

Born Mar. 1, 1906, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. Vietnamese political and state figure.

The son of a peasant, Pham Van Dong studied at the University of Hanoi. From his youth he took an active part in the revolutionary struggle. In 1925 he joined the Fellowship of Revolutionary Youth of Vietnam, and in 1930 he became a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Arrested by the French colonial authorities in 1929, he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, but he was released in 1936 after the Popular Front came to power in France. In 1941, Pham Van Dong helped organize the League of Struggle for the Independence of Vietnam (the Vietminh), and from 1941 to 1945 he took part in the creation of revolutionary bases in North Vietnam. In 1945 he served on the National Committee for the Liberation of Vietnam.

After the August Revolution of 1945, Pham Van Dong served as a minister in the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). From late 1946 through 1949 he was a special representative of the government of the DRV and the Central Committee of the CPV in central Vietnam. He was deputy prime minister of the DRV from 1949 to 1955 and minister of foreign affairs from August 1954 to 1961. In September 1955 he assumed the position of prime minster of the DRV. In July 1976, Pham Van Dong became prime minister of the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Vietnam in 1951 and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPV in 1976.