Nguyễn Phan Long (1888 – 16 July 1960) was a Vietnamese journalist and politician who served as Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam from 20 January to 27 April in 1950. He was dismissed by the Head of State Bảo Đại under pressure from the French colonial authorities, who resented his pro-American and nationalist attitude.

Early life and career

He was born in Saigon in 1888. He was sent to Hanoi to be educated at the Lycée Albert Sarraut, afterward, he returned to Saigon to work as a high school teacher and a journalist. In 1917 he worked for the La Tribune Indigène and in 1920, he founded the liberal newspaper L'Écho Annamite, in which he worked with the (Eurasian) Vietnamese nationalist Eugène Dejean de la Bâtie, friend of André Malraux. During his time as a journalist, Long would write about spiritualism and the Vietnamese religion Caodaism.

Political career

In the 1920s–1930s, he was the deputy leader of the Parti Constitutionnaliste Indochinois, a nationalist party founded in 1923 and led by Bui Quang Chiêu. He was elected as colonial councillor. He was elected in 1936 as president of the Congrès Universel des Sectes Caodaïques, an attempted unified caodai movement, which eventually failed. After 1945, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Interior as well as editor of L'Écho du Vietnam.

Personal life and death

He was an ardent follower of Caodaism and spoke fluent French. He was married to Trần Thị Nguyên. He died in Saigon on 16 July 1960 at the age of 71.

Sources

see also: