Nguyễn Văn Lộc (24 August 1922 – 31 May 1992) was a South Vietnamese educator, lawyer, and politician who served as Prime Minister of South Vietnam between 1 November 1967 and 17 May 1968. His wife, Nguyễn Thị Mai, would be the subject of a biography, ''Black Silk Pajamas'' in 2000. Lộc attempted to leave Vietnam 14 times before successfully making it to Singapore in May 1983 as a refugee. He died in Paris, France in May 1992 at the age of 69.

Early life and education

Nguyễn Văn Lộc was born on 24 August 1922, in Long Chau village, Chau Thanh district - Vinh Long, (now Vinh Long City, Vinh Long Province) to a wealthy family. He obtained a bachelor's degree in law from the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in 1954 and a master's degree in criminal law from the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, France in 1964.

Political career

Since 1955, he has been a lawyer of the Saigon High Court.

Prime Minister of South Vietnam (1967-1968)

In November 1967, he was appointed by President

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 Armed Forces (RVNAF), becam ...

to be the first Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Vietnam. In mid-November 1967, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Lộc presented his cabinet: * Foreign Minister: Doctor

Trần Văn Đỗ Trần Văn Đỗ (15 November 1903 - 20 December 1990) was a South Vietnamese intellectual and politician who served in both the governments of the State of Vietnam and South Vietnam as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister ...

* Defense Minister: Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn Vỹ * Interior Minister: Lieutenant General Linh Quang Viên * Minister of Rural Construction: Lieutenant General Nguyễn Đức Thắng * Economic Minister: Trương Thái Tôn * Finance Minister: Lưu Văn Tính * Minister of Culture and Education: Professor Tăng Kim Đồng * Minister of Labor: Professor Phó Bá Long * Minister of Health: Doctor Trần Lữ Y * Minister of Public Works: Bửu Đôn * Minister of Justice: Huỳnh Đức Bửu * Minister for Ethnic Development: Paul Nur * Minister of Agriculture and Land: Tôn Thất Trình * Minister of Social Affairs and Refugees: Dr. Nguyễn Phúc Quế * Transport Minister: Lương Thái Siêu And two Ministers in charge of other areas. Deputy Ministers are Phạm Đăng Lâm (Diplomacy), Trần Lưu Cung (Education; in charge of Universities and Specializations), Professor Lê Trọng Vinh (Education; in charge of First, Secondary and High School), Law. Professor Hồ Thới Sang (Education; in charge of School Youth), Professor Bùi Xuân Bào (Culture), Nguyễn Chánh Lý (Commerce), Võ Văn Nhung (Technology). Professor Nguyễn Văn Tường and Đoàn Bá Cang hold the positions of Ministers of the Prime Minister's Office. After the

1968 Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...

, he was criticized and forced to resign. Since then, he has stopped doing politics and has turned to teaching.

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 Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...

On April 30, 1975, when South Vietnam collapsed to the advancing forces of

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

and the

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

, Lộc like other high-ranking government and military officials of the Saigon government that stayed behind were sent to re-education camp operated by the new Communist Vietnamese government. In an interview with the New York Times, Lộc describes in the re-education camps he and other inmates were forced to perform hard labor such as clearing the jungles, swamps, and minefields to building dams and farming. He mentions the conditions of the camps were so brutal that two or three people within the camps would die every week from

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...

or illnesses In 1980, after spending five brutal years in the re-education camp, the Communist government decided to let Lộc return to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Lộc explains, ''I nearly died in the labor camp, where I was kept with about 1,500 others on a near starvation diet, they let me return to Saigon in 1980 only after they felt that I was dying.''Vietnam Ex-Premier tells how he escaped
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References

1922 births 1992 deaths Prime Ministers of South Vietnam Vietnamese emigrants to Singapore {{Vietnam-politician-stub