NGUYEN VAN THINH

died Nov. 10, 1946, Saigon [now Ho Chi Minh City], Vietnam Vietnamese statesman who in 1946 served briefly as president of a French-controlled government of Cochinchina (southern Vietnam). Thinh was a French citizena privilege granted to select Vietnamese nationals during the French rule of Vietnam. After World War II he helped plan an allegedly free Vietnamese republic created by the French in early 1946. Thinh's official title was president of the provisional government of the Republic of Cochinchina, but the republic was actually controlled by the French. Feeling dishonoured by his ineffectual role, Thinh committed suicide.