Nguyễn Văn Tâm

Nguyễn Văn Tâm in 1953.

Nguyễn Văn Tâm (1893^[1] – 23 November 1990 ^[2]) 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 was at that post from June 1952 to December 1953.

Born in Tây Ninh Province, Nguyễn Văn Tâm was originally a school teacher who was picked by the French to be the District Chief of Cai Lậy in the early 1940s. He was known to be an effective servant of the French in suppressing any uprisings in his district with the most savage means. After the August Revolution. he was imprisoned by the new Vietnamese authorities for his crimes against the people but was later freed by the French military and returned to their service. He was made Governor of Northern Vietnam by the French-directed Bảo Đại government before becoming Prime Minister. His son is General Nguyễn Văn Hinh, the Chief of Staff of the Vietnamese National Army, the military force created by the French (1950-1955) to fight for them against the Communist Revolution.

He was Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam from June 25, 1952, to December 16, 1953.^[3][4]

He was nicknamed the Tiger of Cai Lậy for his aforementioned brutal suppression of revolutionary groups in the Cai Lậy region of the Mekong Delta.

References

1. pdf (Vietnamese)
2. "Nguyen Van Tam, Vietnamese Statesman, 97", New York Times, 28 November 1990, retrieved 11 April 2010
3. Archived October 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
4. Justin Corfield Historical Dictionary of Ho Chi Minh City 2013 p204 "A general in the State of Vietnam, he was born on 20 September 1915 in Vung Tau, in southern Vietnam, his father being Nguyen Van Tam. He went to Lycée Chasseloup Laubat in Saigon, and then moved to France, where he attended Lycée ."