Souphanouvong

born July 13, 1909, Luang Prabang, Laos

died Jan. 9, 1995, Laos

leader of the revolutionary Pathet Lao movement and first president of Communist-governed Laos.

Souphanouvong, half brother of the Lao premier Souvanna Phouma, was born a prince, a son of Viceroy Boun Khong of Luang Prabang. He was trained in civil engineering in France, and, under the French Indochina administration, he built bridges and roads in Vietnam (1938–45). After World War II he opposed the reimposition of French rule in Laos and joined the nationalist provisional government in Vientiane as defense minister. After a period as foreign minister of the Free Lao government-in-exile in Bangkok (1947–48), he broke with it to ally with the Viet Minh, with whose aid he formed the Communist-oriented Pathet Lao in 1950. After more than a decade in opposition, he joined the coalition government set up by Souvanna Phouma in 1962. When it collapsed a year later, he escaped to northern provinces administered by the Pathet Lao and its political wing, the Neo Lao Hak Xat, and resumed the Laotian civil war. As the Pathet Lao was establishing control over the whole of Laos in 1974–75, Souphanouvong returned to Vientiane to head the National Political Council; and, when a republic was proclaimed in late 1975, he became president (ceremonial head of state) and served on the Politburo of the Laotian Communist Party. He resigned from the presidency for reasons of health in 1986.