Nguyen Tien Hung

Who is Nguyen Tien Hung?

Nguyễn Tiến Hưng was Minister of Economic Development and Planning in the Republic of Vietnam and one of President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's closest advisers. As of 2010, he is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

He was born in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, in 1935. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and law from University of Saigon, his master's degree and PhD in economics from the University of Virginia. He worked briefly for the Commonwealth of Virginia before becoming assistant professor of economics at North Carolina Wesleyan College in 1963 and then assistant professor of economics at Howard University in 1965. He worked as an economist in Africa with the International Monetary Fund from 1966 to 1969, before being appointed "special assistant" to President Thiệu and Commissioiner of Planning in 1973. He was named Minister of Economic Development and Planning on November 28, 1974. In an attempt to force President Richard Nixon to honor what he and President Thiệu interpreted as promises of heavy American military aid should the war go badly, Hưng made public a series of letters which Nixon had sent to Thiệu in 1972 and 1973.