President Tran Dai Quang - a beloved leader and close friend of the press

I could not believe the news. Immediately, I called three of my friends to confirm what I had heard. Unfortunately, their answers were the same. 

In my career as a journalist, I knew the President since he worked at the Security General Department under the Ministry of Public Security. He was an active collaborator of the Nhan dan Newspaper. He not only updated the newspaper with information about social order and security but also wrote a number of editorials and features on emulation movements such as “All people protecting national security” and “People's Police Cadres and Troops Studying and Implementing Uncle Ho's Six Teachings” and on domestic and international issues under different pen names.

President Tran Dai Quang and delegates at the National Press Festival 2018. Photo: Thien Minh

In acknowledgement of his contributions, the newspaper awarded him with its medal “For the development cause of the Nhan dan Newspaper” and suggested the Ministry of Information and Communications (the then Ministry of Culture) to present a press card to Tran Dai Quang recognizing him as a journalist.

Afterwards, in the posts of the Minister of Public Security and then the State President, he spent time meeting journalists and paying visits to newspapers on the traditional anniversary of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press (June 21). At these meetings, we cheered, “A journalist congratulates his peers.” The President smiled and replied, “I consider the press card my treasure and I am very proud of being a journalist. I sympathize with difficulties facing journalists when performing their duty, but I am also glad to hear the important role of the press in the national construction and protection cause!”

On our desks, my colleagues and I keep a wooden pen holder presented by President Tran Dai Quang on the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day. President Quang passed away, but his gift will stay with us in our journalism careers. We will continue following his words in the September 21 article, “We follow previous generations to build a powerful and prosperous Vietnam.”

President Tran Dai Quang and delegates at the National Press Festival 2018. Photo: Thien Minh

I still remember that one day when President Quang invited me to the Presidential Palace. Although he was busy, he spent an hour discussing with me on his draft article on the Ho Chi Minh ideology on mass mobilization. He was always ready to receive criticisms.

I also remember that in late June 2017, as the Vice President of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association, I was invited to join a working delegation, led by President Tran Dai Quang, to visit Russia and Belarus.  Before the visit, it was the 92nd anniversary of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day. President Quang invited Editors-in-Chief of some newspapers to a luncheon at the Presidential Palace. During the gathering, the President told some funny stories, of which each conveyed a message on a decent working style and humane behaviors to journalists. On the morning of July 1, during our visit to Russia, President Quang led the mission to lay floral wreaths at the President Ho Chi Minh's statue in Moscow and planted a memorial tree there. 

On the flight returning to Hanoi, I wrote a poem “Nuoc Nga trong toi” (Russia in my heart) and requested President Quang to review first. After reading, he added a sentence at the note, “During the visit, the delegation met with Russia veterans” (In my poem, there is a verse featuring the memories of the Russian veterans who had worked in Vietnam during the country’s resistance war against American invaders). Musician Do Hong Quan, Chairman of the Vietnam Musicians' Association, decided to set my poem to music in celebration of the coming 101st anniversary of the Russian Great October Revolution. I would like very much to present President Quang a copy of that song, but I will never have the chance. However, I believe that in the other world, he could listen to the song, while resting in peace, and learn that he succeeded the previous generations of country’s leadership in building up the Vietnam-Russia friendship.

In deep respect to late President Tran Dai Quang, the beloved leader and friend of the press!

Hanoi, September 21, 2018

Written by Nguyen Hong Vinh, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Permanent Deputy-Chief of the Central Commission for Ideology and Culture, former Editor-in-Chief of the Nhan dan Newspaper, former President of the Vietnam Journalists' Association.