Bảo Đại (22 October 1913-30 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy, was the 13th and final Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling family of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was Emperor of Annam, a protectorate within French Indochina. In March 1945, the Japanese ousted the Vichy-French administration and then ruled through Bảo Đại. At this time, he renamed his country “Vietnam“. He abdicated in August 1945 when Japan surrendered. From 1949 until 1955, Bảo Đại was the chief of state of the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam), criticized for being too closely associated with France. Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm eventually ousted him in a fraudulent referendum vote in 1955, spelling what is considered the start of the Second Indochina War (1955-1975).
