Trần Văn Hương

Hương was placed under house arrest by the North Vietnamese. When deemed adequately reformed in 1977, his civil rights were restored but he declined. Instead, he asked for all officials of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to be released from prison before he would take his place among the freed. His request was ignored. The former president died quietly in his own home in 1982. Huong had a wife and two sons.

On 21 April 1975, Thiệu resigned and handed the presidency to Hương. On 28 April 1975, after one week as president, Hương resigned and handed power over to General Dương Văn Minh, who presided over the surrender of the government two days later.

In March 1969, Huong's military-escorted motorcade was taking him home for his lunch break when a man wearing a Vietnamese Rangers uniform approached and fired on a traffic policemen who was organising a clearing for Huong's convoy and an abandoned cyclo was pushed into the street. After an exchange of gunfire, Huong's convoy sped away and he eventually returned to his office after lunch. The assailant and another suspect were later arrested, and a Claymore mine and plastic explosives were found in the cyclo, which failed to detonate. The disguised Ranger claimed that he been paid USD85 for the assassination attempt, and later confessed to being a communist, although given the factionalism in Saigon politics at the time, some believed that the assassination attempt was ordered by others within the political establishment. VC spokespersons did not comment on the incident.

Huong's actual influence was limited, as Thiệu and his military contacts continued to maintain real power. In August 1969, Thiệu replaced him with General Trần Thiện Khiêm. Speculation that Huong would be replaced had been ongoing for a period. The National Assembly had criticised Huong, arguing that his fiscal and anti-corruption policies were ineffective, and Thiệu had not consulted him about policy developments for several months. Huong had also become impaired by asthma and rheumatism by this time.

In May 1968, President Thiệu appointed Huong to the post of prime minister, replacing Nguyen Van Loc. After a week of negotiations with Thiệu, Kỳ, various military officers and civilians, Huong assembled a cabinet with representation from a variety of interests but not members of the Đại Việt. Huong mostly favoured technocrats, keeping six of Loc's ministers in his 18-man cabinet. Huong also appointed himself the minister for Rural Development and Pacification, and stated upon taking office that "The life and death of this country depend on this government... We will do all we can to safeguard it."

In the 1967 South Vietnamese presidential election, Hương finished fourth with 474,100 votes (10.0%).

As the generals and Hương were unwilling to reinstate the HNC, Taylor sent General John L. Throckmorton to meet them and mend relations, and the Vietnamese got their way. The South Vietnamese won in large part because the Americans had spent so much on the country, and could not afford to abandon it and lose to the communists over the matter of military rule, as a communist takeover would be a big public relations coup for the Soviet bloc. An anonymous South Vietnamese government official said "Our big advantage over the Americans is that they want to win the war more than we do." The only concession the military made was on 6 January 1965, when they made a charade move of officially renouncing all their power to Hương, who was asked to organize elections. They also agreed to appoint a civilian body and release those arrested in December. An official announcement was made by Hương and Khánh three days later, in which the military again reiterated their commitment to civilian rule through an elected legislature and a new constitution, and that "all genuine patriots" would be "earnestly assembled" to collaborate in making a plan to defeat the communists.

In January 1965, Hương introduced a series of measures to intensify the anti-communist war effort by expanding military expenditure using aid money and equipment from the Americans, and increasing the size of the armed forces by widening the terms of conscription. This provoked widespread anti-Hương demonstrations and riots across the country, mainly from conscription-aged students and pro-negotiations Buddhists. In Huế, matters degenerated into a riot as 5,000 demonstrators attacked the U.S. Information Service Library and burned 8,000 books. Khánh and I Corps commander General Nguyễn Chánh Thi turned a blind eye to the rioting and destruction of property. It was believed that they did so to allow the disorder to ruin the Hương government and allow them to inherit power. Reliant on Buddhist support, Khánh did little to try to contain the protests. Khánh then decided to have the armed forces take over the government. On 27 January, Khánh removed Hương in a bloodless putsch with the support of Thi and Air Vice-Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ. He promised to leave politics once the situation was stabilized and hand over power to a civilian body. It was believed that some of the officers supported Khánh's increased power so that it would give him an opportunity to fail and be removed permanently. Khánh persisted with the facade of civilian government by retaining figurehead chief of state Phan Khắc Sửu and making economics professor Nguyễn Xuân Oánh the caretaker prime minister.

On 26 September 1964, and due to US pressure, General Nguyễn Khánh and the senior officers in his military junta created a semblance of civilian rule by forming the High National Council (HNC), an appointed advisory body akin to a legislature.

Later during the rule of Diệm, Hương was jailed in 1960 for three years for signing the Caravelle Manifesto that criticised Diệm. However, after Diệm was overthrown and assassinated in 1963, Hương gave a scathing analysis of the coup generals' action. He stated that "The top generals who decided to murder Diệm and his brother were scared to death. The generals knew very well that having no talent, no moral virtues, no political support whatsoever, they could not prevent a spectacular comeback of the president and Mr. Nhu if they were alive."

Huong was born into a poor Mekong Delta family and given as a baby to foster parents, and later became a schoolteacher. During the First Indochina War, Huong was known for his opposition to both the French Union and the communist-dominated Vietminh that fought against them, and had a reputation for conservatism. He initially joined the Vietminh and led a band of 150 fighters in the Plain of Reeds before leaving as the communists took over. He refused to return to teaching under the French colonial framework and found work in a pharmacy. Known for riding his bicycle around town, he served as mayor of Saigon twice, the first of which was when he agreed to work with newly-appointed Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem in 1954 after the partition of Vietnam, but like Diem, he was known for his inflexibility and the pair fell out several years later.

Trần Văn Hương (陳文香, 1 December 1902 – 27 January 1982) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the penultimate president of South Vietnam for a week in April 1975 prior to its surrender to the communist forces of North Vietnam. Prior to that, he was prime minister for three months from November 1964 to January 1965 under the supervision of a military junta led by General Nguyen Khanh; during this time, there was widespread civil unrest from the Buddhist majority and power struggles with the military.