Trần Văn Tuyên (; 1 September 1913 – 28 October 1976) was a South Vietnamese lawyer and politician who served as a member of the lower house (
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
) representing
Saigon District 3 from 1971 until the
collapse and surrender of South Vietnam on 30 April 1975 by President
Dương Văn Minh
Dương Văn Minh (; 16 February 19166 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ngô Đình Diệm. ...
. Prior, he briefly served as
Deputy Prime Minister of South Vietnam in 1965 under Prime Minister
Phan Huy Quát and practiced law in
Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025.
The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
. He is also a fierce political critic of both the
Ngô Đình Diệm
Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam ( Republic of ...
and
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnam, South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the Leaders of South Vietnam, president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Repub ...
regimes.
Biography
He was born on 1 September 1913 in
Tuyên Quang province
Tuyên Quang () is a province of Vietnam, located in the northeastern part of the country to the northwest of Hanoi, at the centre of Lô River valley, a tributary of the Red River. Its capital is Tuyên Quang. The province had a population of ...
to Trần Văn Lợi and Nguyễn Thị Ly.
In 1929, he joined youth league of the
VNQDĐ and its where he began his political activities. In 1943 he earned an
LL.B. from the
University of Indochina and shortly afterwards was arrested by the French colonial government for his involvement in anti-French activities against the colonial government. Later he served as an advisor to
Nhất Linh, a well known Vietnamese independence writer.
Political career
In the late 1940s to early 1950s he served as a minister in the cabinet of various
prime ministers
A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...
: he served as
Minister of Information under
Bao Dai and
Nguyễn Phan Long. And a minister overseeing affairs in the prime minister's office under
Trần Văn Hữu
Trần Văn Hữu (; 9 March 1896 – 17 January 1984) served as president of French Cochinchina, Cochinchina's government from 1948 to 1949, and as Leaders of South Vietnam#Prime Ministers of the Republic of Vietnam, Prime Minister of the State ...
.
He was a delegate in the
1954 Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference was intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War and involved several nations. It took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 April to 20 July 1954. The part of the confe ...
which dealt with the aftermath of the
Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
and the
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...
. The result of the conference resulted in the partition of Vietnam into two countries,
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...
and the
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam (; chữ Hán: 國家越南; ) was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1949 until 1955, first as an associated state of the French Union and later as an independent state (from 20 July 1954 to 26 October 1955). The s ...
later known as
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
.
He served as a lawyer for the Saigon Court of Appeals in the 1950s. He is also an author publishing several books: ''Hiu quạnh''
oneliness(1943), ''Đế quốc đỏ''
ed Empire(1957), ''Tỉnh Mộng''
isillusion(1957), ''Hồi Ký Hội-Nghị Genève 1954''
emoirs of the Geneva Conference(1964), ''Chánh Đảng''
olitical Parties(1967), ''Người Khách Lạ''
Strange Visitor(1968), and a collection of short stories.
In 1960, Tuyên, and along with other notable political figures in Saigon:
Trần Văn Hương,
Phan Khắc Sửu
Phan Khắc Sửu (; vi-hantu, 9 January 1893 – 24 May 1970) was a South Vietnamese engineer and politician who served as a minister in Bảo Đại's government of the State of Vietnam and as a civilian Chief of State of the Republic of Vie ...
,
Trần Văn Đỗ, Phan Huy Quát,
Nguyễn Lưu Viên,
Lê Ngọc Chấn, and
Trần Văn Văn co-authored the
Caravelle Manifesto, a document critiquing the Diệm regime, and demanding that reforms to be made within the government.
As a result, in July 1963, he and those involved with the manifesto were put on trial for subversion, but were all later acquitted with the suicide of Nhất Linh. In 1965, he was invited to serve as a deputy prime minister of the Phan Huy Quát government where he was charge of Planning, for only four months from February to June after the government was dissolved by the
Military Council. Shortly after, he returned to practicing law.
In 1971, he made a political comeback by running for a seat in the lower house in the
1971 South Vietnamese parliamentary election, he won, representing
Saigon District 3. He assumed office on 31 October 1971. During his tenure in the lower house, Tuyên aligned himself with, and was leader of the Dân tộc Xã hội (Ethnic and Social) bloc, a group of deputies who served as loyal opposition to the Thiệu regime.
Fall of Saigon and death
As the
PAVN
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national military force of the Socialist Republic o ...
was advancing to Saigon, he opted not to leave. After the
has taken full control, he was later arrested on May 16, and like many of those who remained and had ties to the former Saigon government and/or to the US were sent to
''Trại cải tạo'' (Re-education camp). He was first sent to a camp in
Long Thành and later relocated to
Hà Tây province
Hà Tây () was a former provinces of Vietnam, province of Vietnam, in the Red River Delta, now part of Hanoi.
Geography
Hà Tây province was located in the Red River Delta bordering Hanoi municipality, Hưng Yên Province, Hưng Yên, Hà ...
.
During his time in the camps, he was treated harshly. As a result, he committed suicide in late October 1976 during his confinement in the camp by slashing his wrists, bleeding out to death. His death was kept a secret for two years by the
regime
In politics, a regime (also spelled régime) is a system of government that determines access to public office, and the extent of power held by officials. The two broad categories of regimes are democratic and autocratic. A key similarity acros ...
of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
until 1978 when his death was announced, it sparked outrage amongst the international community, demanding to know Tuyên's cause of death.
Personal life
He was married to Phạm Thị Côn and had eleven children.
He was also good friends with North Vietnamese general
Võ Nguyên Giáp
Võ Nguyên Giáp ( vi-hantu, , ; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars agains ...
[https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R001800720002-5.pdf]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trần, Văn Tuyên
1913 births
1976 deaths
People from Tuyên Quang province
20th-century Vietnamese lawyers
Vietnamese anti-communists
Members of the National Assembly (South Vietnam)
Vietnamese people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in Vietnamese detention
People who died by suicide in prison custody
Suicides by sharp instrument
Suicides in Vietnam