Nguyễn Văn Huyền

He was born on 9 December 1911 in Sóc Trăng, Tân Trụ district, Long An province, from a long-standing intellectual Catholic family with a high moral background. As a child, he studied in Tân An, then Saigon. In the late 1920s, he went to France to study abroad for a while. After returning home, he studied and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the Law School of the University of Indochina in Hanoi.

After practicing as a lawyer in Saigon for a while, he opened his own law office and gradually became known for his defense cases for political defendants such as Hà Huy Tập (1940),[5] Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, Nguyễn Văn Dưỡng, Phan Kiến Khương in the 1950 Peace Movement in Saigon.[6] In the Peace Movement case in 1950, he withdrew from the Bar Association to protest, but still together with lawyers Lê Văn Hổ and Trương Đình Dzu received an unpaid defense for the "defendant" Nguyễn Hữu Thọ. Before the court, he asserted: "Mr. Thọ has great influence in the people. Mr. Thọ has used that influence to do what must be done" .

After Ngô Đình Diệm announced the establishment of the Republic of Vietnam and held the position of President, although he was a Catholic intellectual, he kept his attitude of non-cooperation with Ngô Đình Diệm's government to protest the political policy of the regime. Despite this, with his professional reputation as well as his reputation for ethics and integrity, he was still elected by the legal profession as the leader of the Bar Association. Besides, he also actively participates in Catholic movements independent of the government such as Vietnam Catholic Action Movement, Catholic Intellectual Movement (he also served as President of both movements). And was a member of the Vietnamese delegation to attend the Third International Conference of the Apostolate of the Laity (however he could not go at the last moment due to health reasons)

After the collapse of the First Republic government, he was invited to participate in the National Synod, participated in the drafting of the 20 October 1964 Covenant that handed over national sovereignty to the elected representative, replacing it. Provisional Charter 4 November 1963 which placed power in the hands of the military.[7] However, the political scene of the Republic of Vietnam was constantly disturbed by coups and power struggles among generals. It was not until the political scene of the Republic of Vietnam stabilized with the 1967 civil election that he ran for the Senate in that year under the banner, "Common Public and Social Justice" partnership (also known as the Bông Huệ Alliance).[8] After being elected as a Senator, with his prestige, he was elected as the first President of the Senate of the Republic of Vietnam. [9] Initially, against both Ngô Đình Diệm's government and the military regime of General Nguyễn Khánh, he enthusiastically supported the civilian government of President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. However, not long after, he soon changed his position and turned to oppose President Thiệu. He publicly strongly criticized President Thiệu's one-man election in the 1971 South Vietnamese presidential election, as a result, Huyền's Senate bloc Bông Huệ was later blocked by Thiệu's government from running in the 1973 South Vietnamese Senate election.[10] Thus, he forgo running for re-election and left the senate once his term expired in 1973.

After 30 April 1975, Huyền, like other members of General Dương Văn Minh's government, was not sent to re- education but remained under house arrest. Although some were later allowed to go abroad, he remained in Vietnam and lived quietly in Ho Chi Minh City. He was once invited to join the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front, the Central Fatherland Front, but he declined due to poor health.[16] Until the last years of his life, he accepted an invitation from his old friend Nguyễn Hữu Thọ to join the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and with the introduction from Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, he was elected a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

He died in 1995 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Lawyer Nguyễn Văn Huyền is considered a member of the Third Force, a group of intellectuals living and working under the Republic of Vietnam regime.[17] A devout Catholic, he was known as a virtuous and honest man, who, despite being in high positions of power, still lived an ascetic life. Throughout his political career, he has not been involved in any financial or political ethics scandals or mistreated his colleagues or dissidents. Therefore, although he has a gentle personality, he still has a great reputation and influence on those around him.[12]

"Mr. Huyền is not a Communist but a religious person and a good person. When the Pope called for peace, Mr. Huyền aimed to end the war and restore peace. By 1975, Dương Văn Minh established the government and invited Mr. Huyền to be the Vice President in charge of peace talks." - Researcher Nguyễn Đình Đầu [18]

"You are a patriotic intellectual. I always thought that you cannot leave your country." - Lawyer Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, former acting President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam[19]