The Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Cộng Hòa), also known as South Vietnam, was created by the partition of Vietnam in 1954 after the defeat of France at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. South Vietnam's capital was Saigon and it was ruled by an anti-communist government.

There is debate about how closely the South Vietnamese government was linked to the United States, which was a strong supporter of South Vietnam. The country is alleged by many historians to have been nothing more than an American-backed puppet government, but many others claim that it was genuine democracy (or, at the least, a patriotic movement with genuine concern for the Vietnamese people). An individual's views on the matter generally correspond closely to their views on the Vietnam War in general - supporters of the war often believe that South Vietnam was a democracy, and thus worthy of defence, while opponents of the war often believe that South Vietnamese democracy was a sham.

Most US forces withdrew from South Vietnam in 1973. No longer able to successfully defend itself, the South Vietnamese government surrendered to North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front (NLF) on April 30, 1975. The Communist Republic of South Vietnam took power and ruled until a unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam was inaugurated on July 2, 1976.

Heads of State

President of the Provisional Government

• Nguyen Van Thinh (1946)
• Le Van Hoach (1946-1947)
• Nguyen Van Xuan (1947-1948)

President of the Central Government of Vietnam

• Nguyen Van Xuan (1948-1949)

Chief of State

• Bao Dai (1949-1955)
• Ngo Dinh Diem (1955, acting)

President

• Ngo Dinh Diem (1955-1963)
• Duong Van Minh (1963-1964)
• Nguyen Khanh (1964)
• Duong Van Minh (1964)
• Nguyen Khanh (1964)
• Provisional Leadership Committee (1964)
  • Duong Van Minh
  • Nyugen Khanh
  • Tran Thien Khiem
• Duong Van Minh (1964)
• Phan Khac Suu (1964-1965)
• Nguyen Van Thieu (1965-1975)
• Tran Van Huong (1975)
• Duong Van Minh (1975)
• Huynh Tan Phat (1975-1976)

Prime Ministers

• Bao Dai (1949-1950)
• Nguyen Phan Long (1950)
• Tran Van Huu (1950-1952)
• Nguyen Van Tam (1952-1953)

• Pham Buu Loc (1954)
• Phan Huy Quat (1954, acting)
• Ngo Dinh Diem (1954-1955)

• Nguyen Ngoc Tho (1963-1964)
• Nguyen Khanh (1964)
• Nguyen Xuan Oanh (1964, acting)
• Nguyen Khanh (1964)
• Tran Van Huong (1964-1965)
• Nguyen Xuan Oanh (1965, acting)
• Phan Huy Quat (1965)
• Nguyen Cao Ky (1965-1967)
• Nguyen Van Loc (1967-1968)
• Tran Van Huong (1968-1969)
• Tran Thien Khiem (1969-1975)
• Nguyen Ba Can (1975)
• Vu Van Mau (1975)
• Nguyen Huu Tho (1975-1976)