Who was president of South Vietnam from 1967 until shortly before Saigon fell?

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1967 until shortly before Saigon fell in 1975.

Thiệu became president after South Vietnam’s 1967 elections, serving alongside Vice President Nguyễn Cao Kỳ. Although both were military figures, Thiệu gradually consolidated power and became the dominant political leader of the Republic of Vietnam. His presidency covered the Vietnamization period, when U.S. forces increasingly withdrew and South Vietnamese forces assumed more responsibility for the war.

Thiệu resigned on April 21, 1975, as North Vietnamese forces advanced and American support appeared to be ending. He left the country soon afterward. Vice President Trần Văn Hương briefly succeeded him, followed by Dương Văn Minh, who surrendered South Vietnam on April 30. A common mix-up is confusing Thiệu with Minh, the final president, or with Kỳ, his earlier vice president and rival.