Phạm Văn Đồng was a Vietnamese politician who served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976. He later served as Prime Minister of Vietnam, following reunification of North and South Vietnam, from 1976 until he retired in 1987 under the presidency of Lê Duẩn and Nguyễn Văn Linh. He was considered one of Hồ Chí Minh's closest lieutenants.
Phạm Văn Đồng in 1972
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was a socialist state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1945 to 1976, with formal sovereignty being fully recognized in 1954. A member of the Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-supported State of Vietnam and later the Western-allied Republic of Vietnam. North Vietnam emerged victorious over South Vietnam in 1975 and ceased to exist the following year when it unified with the south to become the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The North Vietnamese government in 1946.
Ho Chi Minh declaring independence at Ba Dinh Square on September 2nd, 1945
A Viet Minh rally outside the Hanoi Opera House during the August Revolution, 1945.
Ho Chi Minh (seated, right) with Tôn Đức Thắng (seated, left) and other DRV leaders in a liberated zone of northern Vietnam during the First Indochina War.