Skip to content
Placeholder image for when a portrait image is not available

Lê, Duẩn 1907- 1986

Lê Duẩn (Le Duan) was an original founder of the Indochina Communist Party.

Biography

Placeholder image for when a portrait image is not available

Le Duan was an original founder of the Indochina Communist Party, Le served on the North Vietnamese Central Committee under Ho Chi Minh, and directed the formation of an underground Communist organization in South Vietnam. After Ho Chi Minh's death, Duan assumed leadership of North Vietnam.

Secretary, North Vietnam's Communist Party, 1959-1969; Vietnamese Communist Party Leader, 1969-1986

Imprisoned by the French colonial regime, he organized Communist forces in the South after the French withdrawal from Vietnam in 1954 and became first secretary of North Vietnam's Communist party in 1959. After Ho Chi Minh's death in 1969, Le Duan emerged as the leader of North Vietnam's ruling collective. In 1976, after Vietnam's reunification, he was renamed party leader and served until his death.

He was known publicly as Ba, or "Second Son."

Connected Conn.

Popular Documents

May 11, 1970

Discussion between Mao Zedong and Le Duan

Mao Zedong advises Le Duan not to fear the United States.

September 19, 1969

Notes Kept during the Verbal Report given to the First Secretary of the CC of the PLA, Comrade Enver Hoxha, on 19 September 1969, by Comrade Rita Marko

The Albanian Party leadership discusses recent meetings with the Chinese Communist Party, the state of Sino-Soviet relations, and the funeral of Ho Chi Minh.

September 29, 1975

Minutes of Conversation between Deng Xiaoping and Le Duan

Deng Xiaoping recounts a meeting between Zhou Enlai and Ho Chi Minh, at which Ho Chi Minh accused the Chinese of attempting to intimidate the Vietnamese by stationing troops close to the Chinese-Vietnamese border. Le Duan states that he had never been brifed on that meeting. Excerpt.

December 1, 1965

Speech Given by Party First Secretary Le Duan to the 12th Plenum of the Party Central Committee

In this secret policy speech, Vietnamese Communist Party First Secretary Le Duan outlines the North Vietnamese negotiating strategy with United States, including the conditions under which talks between the two sides might first begin.

April 13, 1966

Discussion between Zhou Enlai, Deng Xioaping, Kang Sheng, Le Duan and Nguyen Duy Trinh

China stresses the importance of Chinese aid in Vietnam, while pointing out Vietnam’s seeming mistrust; Vietnam relies on Chinese support.
View All Documents View Visualization