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Article: Le Duan, 79; headed Vietnam communists
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- July 11, 1986
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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BANGKOK, Thailand AP) - Le Duan, who fought the Japanese and
French and then led the communists to victory over the United States
in the Vietnamese war, died yesterday in Hanoi. He was 79.
Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, reported from Hanoi that Le
Duan, who succeeded Ho Chi Minh as head of the Vietnamese Communist
Party after Ho's death in 1969, died of a kidney and lung ailment.
Ho's longtime comrade, a pro-Soviet hard-liner who spent six
decades as a revolutionary, was one of the communist world's most
durable figures. Diplomats said his death may be expected to open
the way for more liberal-minded leaders in Vietnam. The broadcast
mentioned no successor.
One diplomat here, ...