Phạm Hùng

Hùng was born on 11 June 1912, in Vĩnh Long Province, in the Mekong River Delta of southern Vietnam. He was a member of the Communist Party of Indochina since 1930. The following year, he was arrested by the French colonial authorities for killing a landowner and sentenced to death. His sentence was converted into a prison sentence. In 1936, he was amnestied. He was arrested again in 1939 and remained imprisoned until 1945 on the infamous prison island Poulo Condore. Hùng is described as one of the leaders of the communist prisoners during his imprisonment. During the First Indochina War, he was one of the active party leaders in the south of the country and although in a formally subordinate position, controlled large sections of the Viet Minh security forces in the south. In 1951, Hùng was appointed a member of the Central Committee of the party.^[2]

After the withdrawal of France and signature of Geneva Accords, Hùng was ordered in 1955 to Hanoi. In 1957, he became a member of the Politburo of the party.^[3]: 100 He was closely allied with Lê Duẩn who by early 1964 had become the effective leader of North Vietnam. Lê Duẩn and his supporters adopted a more belligerent approach to the armed struggle in South Vietnam in contrast to moderates such as Ho Chi Minh and Võ Nguyên Giáp.^{[3]: 108–10}

In July 1967, after the mysterious death of Lê Duẩn ally, Nguyễn Chí Thanh, under the code name Bay Cuong, Hùng took command of the Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN).^[3]: 154

After the war, Hùng returned to his role in the Politburo. In 1979, he became Minister of the Interior. In 1987, he took over the post of prime minister after the withdrawal of Phạm Văn Đồng.^[4]

During the Vietnam War, Hùng acted as political commissar to the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. He also served as Interior Secretary before his relatively brief period as Prime Minister.^[5]