Nguyễn Văn Thiệu

Birth : 1923-04-05, Phan Rang, Vietnam

Death : 2001-09-29

History

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu 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 the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, became head of a military junta in 1965, and then president after winning an election in 1967.

Movies

Hearts and Minds
Hearts and Minds
Self (archive footage)
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.