Trần Văn Hữu (1895 – 17 January 1985) served as president of the government of Cochinchina from 1948 to 1949, then as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

of the State of Vietnam from 1950 to 1952.

Early life

He was born in 1895, in Long My village, Chau Thanh district ,

Vinh Long Vinh () is the biggest city and economic and cultural center of north-central Vietnam. Vinh is the capital of Nghệ An Province, and is a key point in the East–West economic corridor linking Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The city is ...

province (now Thanh Duc commune, Long Ho district, Vinh Long province) into a wealthy landowner family. His house is in the same village as

Trần Văn Hương Trần Văn Hương (陳文香, 1 December 1902 – 27 January 1982) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the penultimate president of South Vietnam for a week in April 1975 prior to its surrender to the communist forces of North Vietnam. ...

(later Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam), while

Phạm Hùng Phạm Hùng (June 11, 1912 – March 10, 1988) was a Vietnamese politician and the 2nd Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1987 to 1988. Life Phạm Hùng was born on June 11, 1912, in Vĩnh Long Pro ...

's house (later Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam) is located opposite the other side of the Long Hồ River (belonging to Vietnam). Long Phuoc village ). His father held the position of incense in the village. At a young age, Tran Van Huu studied the French program. Growing up, he went to France to study and graduated with a degree in agricultural engineering. When he returned home, he worked at a real estate bank.Tiểu sử Trần Văn Hữu trên trang mạng của Đài truyền hình Vĩnh Long
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Life abroad

He lived in France after Ngô Đình Diệm came to power in 1954 in South Vietnam and worked to undermine the Diệm regime. Hữu served as leader of the Committee for Peace and Renewal of South Vietnam, an organization that lobbied for peace and the neutralization of Vietnam in the Cold War. As part of this mission, in 1966 he visited Pope Paul VI and the United Nations Secretary General

U Thant Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...

. Because of his lobbying efforts and past political standing, Hữu was an ally of the National Liberation Front (NLF) in Paris. In 1969, the leadership of the NLF proposed Hữu as a possible minister of a new NLF government."Vietcong and Their Allies Set Up Anti-Thieu Regime," New York Times, 11 June 1969.

References

1895 births 1985 deaths {{Vietnam-politician-stub