President Vo Van Thuong (4th from left) and former Party and State leaders attend the ceremony marking late President Ton Duc Thang’s 135th birth anniversary in An Giang, August 19, 2023. (Photo: qdnd.vn)

President Ton Duc Thang was born on August 20, 1888 in An Hoa village, Long Xuyen city, An Giang province.  

He founded the Secret Union, the first Union of the working class in Vietnam, and led many workers’ movements in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh city) including the strike of Ba Son workers in August 1925.

In 1926, Ton Duc Thang joined the Vietnamese Youth Revolution Association and was jailed by the French at Poulo Condor (Con Dao island) in 1929.

Following the success of the 1945 August Revolution, he moved to Hanoi and was elected Vice President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1960. 

After President Ho Chi Minh passed away in 1969, he became President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In his address at the ceremony, Secretary of the An Giang provincial Party Committee Le Hong Quang praised President Ton Duc Thang as a shining example of patriotism and devotion to the revolution.