The ARVN, which had fought hard at Xuân Lộc, finally abandoned the city and retreated toward Saigon.
President Thiệu resigned, leaving the government in the hands of Vice President Trần Văn Hương.
He was a career army officer who interestingly started off in the Việt Minh, in which he rose to be a district chief. He left them, however when it became obvious they were Communist and were committing atrocities. He enrolled in the French controlled Vietnamese governments Merchant Marine Academy but rejected a position on a ship when he discovered that the French owners were going to pay him less than his French colleagues. He thereafter transferred to the National Military Academy in Đà Lạt, graduating in 1949. He was part of the junta that overthrew Ngô Đình Diệm in 1963, after having prevented a coup a few years earlier. He was elected President in 1967 after the US insisted on democratic elections. He was reelected in 1971, as the only candidate running, as opponents believed the polls would be rigged. His resignation speech was a whopping two hours long, but did include the memorable lines,"I resign, but I do not desert."
He was a convert to Catholicism.
He died on September 29, 2001, in Boston. In Hawaii to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife Mai Anh, the September 11 attacks impacted him psychology and contributed to his death which occurred after his return to his home in Boston.
Kissinger bizarrely believed that his resignation would lead to a negotiation to save Saigon, which is something that apparently his successor, Dương Văn Minh, also believed would occur.
The last New Zealanders at their embassy in South Vietnam were evacuated from the country.
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