Nguyá» n Mạnh Tðá»Âng (1909–1997) was a Vietnamese lawyer and intellectual. He was known to be one of the active participators in the Nhân VÃÂn affair in the mid-1950s which saw many intellectuals demanding freedom and democracy in communist-led North Vietnam. After he criticised the disastrous land reform campaign in 1956, he was stripped of all positions he held in the government and was forced to retire from practicing law.
Nguyá» n Mạnh Tðá»Âng was born in 1909 in the Hàng ÃÂào street of HàNá»Âi. He graduated from the Lycée Albert Sarraut at age 16 and studied overseas at the University of Montpellier in southern France in 1927. At age 22, he became the first Vietnamese person to receive two doctorates in France: Juris Doctor (with the dissertation L'individu dans la vieille cité annamite, Code des Lê, D.E., Droit, Montpellier, Imp. de la Presse Montpellier 1932) and a Doctor d'ÃÂtat in Literature (L'Annam dans la littérature française, D.E., Lettres, Montpellier 1932). According to the press of the time, a young Vietnamese person with two doctorates was unheard of in the French educational system. A good friend of his was Nguyá» n VÃÂn Huyên, who was working toward a Doctor of Letters in France.
Returning to Vietnam in 1936, Nguyá» n Mạnh Tðá»Âng taught French literature in Hanoi at the Lycée du Protectorat (trðá»Âng Trung há»Âc Bảo há» or trðá»Âng Bðá»Âi, since 1945 named Chu VÃÂn An High School). Dissatisfied with prejudiced French policies, he left the school and opened a law firm.
While participating in the Vietnamese resistance against France (see First Indochina War), he worked as a lawyer and taught in Thanh Hóa until the Partition of Vietnam in 1954, when he moved back to Hanoi and became a professor at University of Literature (ÃÂại há»Âc VÃÂn khoa, now Vietnam National University, Hanoi).
After 1954, he became dean at the Hanoi University of Law (ÃÂại há»Âc LuáºÂt HàNá»Âi), vice-chairman of the Vietnamese Lawyers Association (Há»Âi LuáºÂt gia Viá»Ât Nam); chair of the Vietnam Law Group (ÃÂoàn LuáºÂt sð Viá»Ât Nam); vice-dean at the Hanoi National University of Education (ÃÂại há»Âc Sð phạm HàNá»Âi); member of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front; member of the Vietnam-France Friendship Society (Há»Âi Hữu nghá» Viá»Ât-Pháp), Vietnamese-Soviet Friendship Society (Há»Âi Hữu nghá» Viá»Ât-Xô), and Committee for the Protection of World Peace (Uá»· ban Bảo vá» Hoàbình Thế giá»Âi); founder of the Unity Club (Câu lạc bá» ÃÂoàn Kết); and vice-provost at Hanoi National University of Education; he also conducted education research. He joined the Vietnamese government delegation at diplomatic talks in ÃÂàLạt and other peace talks in Beijing and Vienna.