The leader of North Vietnam was Hồ Chí Minh. He served as the president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from its establishment in 1945 until his death in 1969. Hồ Chí Minh was also the prime minister from 1946 to 1955 and chairman of the Workers' Party of Vietnam from 1951 until 1969. He was the founding figure of the Vietnamese communist movement and led the country through its struggle for independence from French colonial rule and later during the Vietnam War against the United States and South Vietnam
. After Hồ Chí Minh's death in 1969, Lê Duẩn became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the de facto leader of North Vietnam until his death in 1986
. Tôn Đức Thắng succeeded Hồ Chí Minh as president from 1969 to 1976 and then became the first president of the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam
