Phan Huy Quát
Dr. Quát in 1965
4th Prime Minister of South Vietnam
In office
16 February 1965  12 June 1965
DeputyTrần Văn Đỗ
Trần Văn Tuyên
Head of StatePhan Khắc Sửu
Preceded byTrần Văn Hương
Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (Acting)
Succeeded byNguyễn Cao Kỳ
Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Vietnam
In office
8 February 1964  4 November 1964
Prime MinisterNguyễn Khánh
Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (Acting)
Preceded byPhạm Đăng Lâm
Succeeded byPhạm Đăng Lâm
Minister of Democratization of the State of Vietnam
In office
11 January 1954  16 June 1954
Prime MinisterPrince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Minister of Defense of the State of Vietnam
In office
8 January 1953  17 December 1953
Prime MinisterNguyễn Văn Tâm
Preceded byNghiêm Văn Tri
Succeeded byNguyễn Đắc Khê
In office
21 January 1950  21 February 1951
Prime MinisterNguyễn Phan Long
Trần Văn Hữu
Preceded byTrần Văn Hữu
Succeeded byTrần Văn Hữu
Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam
In office
21 January 1950  21 February 1951
Prime MinisterNguyễn Phan Long
Trần Văn Hữu
Minister of Education of the State of Vietnam
In office
14 July 1949  21 January 1950
Prime MinisterBảo Đại
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byUnknown
Personal details
Born(1908-06-12)12 June 1908
Hà Tĩnh, Annam, French Indochina
Died27 April 1979(1979-04-27) (aged 70)
Chí Hòa Prison, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Political partyNationalist Party of Greater Vietnam
SpouseĐặng Thị Lý
Children6
RelativesPhan Huy Lê (half brother)
EducationUniversity of Hanoi (PhD)

Phan Huy Quát (Hà Tĩnh Province, 12 June 1908 – 27 April 1979) was a South Vietnamese doctor and politician who served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam for four months in 1965.[1][2][3]

Early life

Phan Huy Quát was born in Lộc Hà District in Hà Tĩnh Province. He attended the Lycée Pellerin, Huế, 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. On 22 January 1950, Prime Minister Nguyễn Phan Long 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.

In June 1953, Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Tâm appointed Quát Minister of Defense. Quát would be in this position until 1954 when Prince Bửu Lộc 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 to the position.

In April 1960, Quát signed the Caravelle Manifesto, 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, 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 was installed as Prime Minister of General Khánh's freshly created High National Council (HNC).[4]

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 then led the junta that oversaw the civilian cabinet. [5]

In 1965, Kỳ was appointed prime minister and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu 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, Quát went into hiding. In August 1975, he was arrested and jailed at Chí Hòa Prison after a failed attempt to escape from Vietnam. It was there that he died of liver failure on 27 April 1979. The official report indicated that Quát had died from "a stroke, heart attack and liver failure".

See also

References

  1. Ronald B. Frankum Jr. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the War in Vietnam. p. 360. Phan Huy Quát (1911—1979). Medical doctor and prime minister of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). Phan Huy Quát was a leading member of the Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam (Dai Viet Qu6c Dan Dang) and served first as minister of ...
  2. Lockhart, Bruce M.; Duiker, William J. (2010). The A to Z of Vietnam. p. 309. Phan Huy Quát (1901—1975). Nationalist party leader and onetime civilian prime minister of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). A member of the Bai Viet Party, Phan Huy Quát was active
  3. Corfield, Justin (2013). Historical Dictionary of Ho Chi Minh City. p. 240. The acting prime minister of the State of Vietnam in June 1954, and the prime minister of the Republic of Vietnam from February until June 1965, Phan Huy Quat was born on 12 June 1908 in Ha Tinh in Central Vietnam. He attended Lycée Pellerin in Hue
  4. VanDeMark, Brian (1991). Into the Quagmire: Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 79. ISBN 0195065069.
  5. VanDeMark 1991, p. 80.

Further reading

  • Nghiem Ke To (August 20, 1954). Việt Nam Máu Lửa [Vietnam, Blood and Fire] (in Vietnamese). Saigon: Vo Van Van.
  • Doan Them. 1965:Viec Tung Ngay [1965:a day-by-day account] (in Vietnamese). Saigon: Pham Quang Khai.
  • Doan Them. Hai Muoi Nam Qua 1945-1964:Viec Tung Ngay [Twenty Years Ago 1945-1964:a day-by-day account] (in Vietnamese). Saigon: Pham Quang Khai.
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