Date of birth:
December 27, 1931
Date of death:
August 7, 2020
Native place:
Dong Khe commune, Dong Son district, Thanh Hoa province
Position:
- General Secretary of the Party Central Committee in the 8th tenure (from December 1997 to April 2001)
- member of the standing board and Permanent member of the Politburo in the 8th tenure
- Politburo member in the 7th tenure (from January 1994) and 8th tenure
- Secretary of the Party Central Committee in the 7th tenure (from June 1992)
- Member of the Party Central Committee in the 7th and 8th tenures
- National Assembly deputy in the 9th and 10th tenures
Working history
-1947-1949: Worked as a teacher at "Binh dan hoc vu" (classes to eradicate illiteracy) in his commune. In June, 1949, he joined the Party, taking charge of popularisation work and holding the post of office chief of the communal Party cell
-May 1950 to August 1954: Joining the army, promoted to squad leader, platoon leader, company's deputy political commissar and the political commissar in Regimen 66, Brigade 304
-September 1954 to March 1955: Studying at military-political school, first training course
-March 1955 to March 1958: Holding the posts of head of organisation sub-committee of Regimen 66, battalion political commissar; deputy political chairman and then political chairman of Regimen 66, Brigade 304
-April 1958: Studying at high-level political school
-June 1961-1966: Holding the posts of deputy head of the personnel department, then head of the organisation department under the political section of Brigade 304; deputy political commissar then political commissar of Regimen 9 (Brigade 304), member of the brigade's Party Committee
-July 1967: Going to the Tri Thien battlefield, serving political commissar of Regimen 9
-January 1968: Doubling as Commander of Regimen 9
-1970: head of the organisation department of Tri Thien Military Zone
-October 1971 - February 1974: deputy political chairman of Tri Thien Military Zone
-March 1974: Political chairman of Tri Thien Military Zone (later becoming Army Corps 2), member of the army corps' Party Committee
-February 1978: Becoming Political Chairman, then Deputy Political Commissar and Political Chairman of Military Zone 9
-August 1980: Deputy Commander in charge of politics and Political Chairman of Military Zone 9; elected to the Standing Board and then as Deputy Secretary of the military zone's Party Committee
-March 1983: Political Chairman of Military Zone 9
-April 1984: : Political Chairman of High Command 719, promoted to Major General
-1986: Deputy Commander in charge of politics and Political Chairman of High Command 719; member and then deputy secretary of the Party delegation of High Command 719
-June 1988: Promoted to Lieutenant General
-August 1988: Deputy Chairman of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army (in charge of organisational, personnel and safeguarding affairs)
-June 1991: Elected to the Party Central Committee at the seventh National Party Congress; assigned to be Chairman of the General Department of Politics and member of the standing board of the Central Military Commission
-June 1992: Elected to the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat at the third plenum of the seventh Party Central Committee and assigned as permanent member of the Secretariat. Promoted to Senior Lieutenant General
-January 1994: Elected to the Politburo at a mid-term plenum of the seventh Party Central Committee
-June 1996: Re-elected to the Party Central Committee at the eighth National Party Congress, elected to the Politburo and its standing board; assigned to be standing member of the Politburo and head of the Party Central Committee's internal political protection commission
-December 26, 1997: Elected General Secretary of the Party Central Committee at the fourth plenum of the eighth Party Central Committee and secretary of the Central Military Commission
- December 1997-April 2001: General Secretary of the Party Central Committee in the 8th tenure
-October 2006: Retiring
-August 7, 2020: Passing away