Hà Tĩnh Province
Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean.
Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ.
Notable people with the surname Hà
*Hà Kiều Anh, Mis ...
, 12 June 1908 – 27 April 1979) was a South Vietnamese doctor and politician who served as
Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam
This is a list of leaders of South Vietnam, since the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in 1946, and the division of Vietnam in 1954 until the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975, and the reunification of Vietnam in 19 ...
Hà Tĩnh Province
Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean.
Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ.
Notable people with the surname Hà
*Hà Kiều Anh, Mis ...
Huế
Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...
, then studied medicine in Hanoi and qualified as a doctor before entering politics.
On 1 July 1949, Quát was appointed Minister of Education by Head of State
Bảo Đại
Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...
. On 22 January 1950, Prime Minister
Nguyễn Phan Long
Nguyễn Phan Long (1888 – 16 July 1960) served as Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam in January 1950. He was dismissed in May 1950 by the Emperor Bảo Đại under pressure from the French colonial authorities, who resented his pro-Ameri ...
appointed Quát Minister of Defense, at which position he had only served briefly before the Cabinet was re-organized and he returned to working for the
Đại Việt Quốc dân đảng
The Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam (in vi, Đại Việt Quốc dân đảng), often known simply as or ĐVQDĐ, was a nationalist and anti-communist political party and militant organisation that was active in Vietnam in the 20th century. ...
.
In June 1953, Prime Minister
Nguyễn Văn Tâm
Nguyễn Văn Tâm (16 October 1895 – 23 November 1990) served as Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, a political entity created by the French in an attempt to regain control of the country. He held that office from June 1952 to December ...
appointed Quát Minister of Defense. Quát would be in this position until 1954 when Prince
Bửu Lộc
Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc, (22 August 1914 – 27 February 1990), was an uncle of Emperor Bảo Đại, and Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam in 1954.Oscar Chapuis The Last Emperors of Vietnam: From Tu Duc to Bao Dai 2000 p157 "On Jan ...
became Prime Minister who appointed Quát Special Minister in charge of the democratization process for Vietnam. Dr. Quát then served briefly as an interim Prime Minister until Bảo Đại appointed
Ngô Đình Diệm
Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...
to the position.
In April 1960, Quát signed the
Caravelle Manifesto
The Caravelle Manifesto, also referred to as the Manifesto of the Eighteen, was written in April 1960, as a public critique of the South Vietnamese government under President Ngô Đình Diệm. The "manifesto" of grievances included the Diệm reg ...
, a list of grievances and demands specifically critical of Diệm, and was promptly jailed by the GVN. After Diệm's assassination in October 1963, Quát was appointed Foreign Minister by Major General
Nguyễn Khánh
Nguyễn Khánh (; 8 November 192711 January 2013) was a South Vietnamese military officer and Army of the Republic of Vietnam general who served in various capacities as head of state and prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a ...
, one of the principal participants in the bloody coup. Though Quát frequently criticized Khánh's self-serving rule, he remained in Khánh's cabinet until November 1964, when
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. ...
was installed as Prime Minister of General Khánh's freshly created
High National Council
The High National Council ( hu, Nemzeti Főtanács) was the collective head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th ...
(HNC).
On 16 February 1965, the Armed Forces Council, a group of South Vietnamese military officers who took over when General Khánh deposed Hương and the HNC, secured Quát's appointment to Prime Minister in order to foil a power grab by the junta chief Khánh, who intended to install the economist Nguyễn Xuân Oánh as his puppet in the Prime Minister post. Khánh himself was forced to step down after a coup on 19/20 February and was subsequently exiled. Air Marshal
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (; 8 September 1930 – 23 July 2011) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South V ...
then led the junta that oversaw the civilian cabinet.
In 1965, Kỳ was appointed Prime Minister and
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, Republic o ...
became President by a special joint meeting of military leaders following the voluntary resignation of civilian President Sửu. After leaving the Prime Minister post, Dr. Quát returned to his medical practice. He remained in politics until 1975 by working with the Asia Anti-Communist League (Liên Minh Á Châu Chống Cộng) as Chairman of its Vietnamese office.
Last years/death
After the
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of ...
, Quát went into hiding. In August 1975, he was arrested and jailed at
Chí Hòa Prison
Chí Hòa Prison ( or ') is a functioning Vietnamese prison located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The prison is an octagonal building on a 7-hectare site
1965 South Vietnamese coup
On February 19, 1965, some units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam commanded by General Lâm Văn Phát and Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo launched a coup against General Nguyễn Khánh, the head of South Vietnam's ruling military junta. The ...