Phan Huy Quát

In this Vietnamese name, the surname is Phan, but is often simplified to Phan in English-language text. In accordance with Vietnamese custom, this person should be referred to by the given name, Quat.

Phan Huy Quát
Quát in Paris
4th Prime Minister of South Vietnam
In office 16 February 1965 – 12 June 1965
Deputy	Trần Văn Đỗ Trần Văn Tuyên
Chief of State	Phan Khắc Sửu
Preceded by	Trần Văn Hương
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Vietnam
In office 8 February 1964 – 4 November 1964
Prime Minister	Nguyễn Khánh Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (Acting) Nguyễn Khánh Phan Khắc Sửu (Acting)
Preceded by	Phạm Đăng Lâm
Succeeded by	Phạm Đăng Lâm
Minister of Democratization of the State of Vietnam
In office 11 January 1954 – 16 June 1954
Prime Minister	Prince Bửu Lộc
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Minister of Defense of the State of Vietnam
In office 8 January 1953 – 17 December 1953
Prime Minister	Nguyễn Văn Tâm
Preceded by	Nghiêm Văn Tri
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Đắc Khê
In office 20 January 1950 – 7 May 1950
Prime Minister	Nguyễn Phan Long
Preceded by	Nguyễn Văn Xuân
Succeeded by	Trần Văn Hữu
Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam
In office 20 January 1950 – 18 February 1951
Prime Minister	Nguyễn Phan Long Trần Văn Hữu
Preceded by	Nguyễn Văn Xuân
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Khắc Vệ
Minister of Education of the State of Vietnam
In office 14 July 1949 – 20 January 1950
Prime Minister	Bảo Đại
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Unknown
Personal details
Born	(1908-06-12)12 June 1908 Hà Tĩnh, Annam, French Indochina
Died	27 April 1979(1979-04-27) (aged 70) Chí Hòa Prison, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Political party	Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam
Spouse	Đặng Thị Lý
Children	6
Relatives	Phan Huy Lê (half brother)
Education	University 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.

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).

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.

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

• 1965 South Vietnamese coup

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.

External links

• "Đại Việt Quốc Dân Đảng" [Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang Party] (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 26 October 2009.
• "Former Prime Minister Phan Huy Quat remarks on the political situation in South Vietnam". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
• "Cái chết trong tù CS của cựu Thủ Tướng Phan Huy Quát" [Former Prime Minister Phan Huy Quat's death in Communist prison] (in Vietnamese). 11 May 2009. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2009.