Võ Thị Thắng

Võ Thị Thắng (10 December 1945 – 22 August 2014) was a Vietnamese revolutionary and stateswoman. She was a member of the Long An delegation to the National Assembly of Vietnam during its fourth, fifth, and sixth sessions (1975 to 1981). She later served as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam during its eighth and ninth congresses (1996 to 2006), the Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the Chairwoman of the Vietnam–Cuba Friendship Association, and the Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union.

Outside of Vietnam, she is most well known for a photograph of her smiling at her sentencing for an attempted assassination during the Vietnam War. The photograph is popularly known as the "Smile of Victory" and has become a symbol of Vietnamese women who fought in the war.

Early life
Võ Thị Thắng was born on 10 December 1945 in what is now Tân Bửu Commune, Bến Lức District, Long An Province, Vietnam. She was the youngest of eight siblings, and her family members were supporters of the North Vietnamese government. At the age of 16, Thắng joined the underground National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF). When she was 17, she moved to Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City) and joined the local branches of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and Vietnamese Students' Association, which were banned under the South Vietnamese government.

Vietnam War
In July 1968, during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War, the NLF tasked Thắng with assassinating a suspected spy in Saigon. After failing to kill her target, she was arrested by the South Vietnamese authorities and sentenced by a military court to 20 years of hard labour in Côn Đảo Prison. Upon receiving her sentence, Thắng faced the jury and retorted, "Will your government last long enough to imprison me for 20 years?" A photograph of Thắng smiling, taken by a Japanese reporter at her sentencing, became popularly known as the "Smile of Victory", a symbol of Vietnamese women who fought in the Vietnam War.

Thắng was released on 7 March 1974 under the Paris Peace Accords, having served less than six years of her sentence.

Later life
After the end of the Vietnam War and the reunification of Vietnam on 30 April 1975, Thắng retired from the People's Army of Vietnam and continued her work with the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union. The Vietnamese government later appointed her standing vice president of the Vietnam Women's Union.

She was elected to the fourth (1971–1975), fifth (1975–1976), and sixth (1976–1981) sessions of the National Assembly of Vietnam as a representative of Long An Province, as well as to the eighth and ninth congresses of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. She also served as the Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the Chairwoman of the Vietnam–Cuba Friendship Association.

Thắng retired in 2007 and died on 22 August 2014.

Honours
Thắng was posthumously conferred the title Hero of the People's Armed Forces by Vietnamese president Trương Tấn Sang on 20 August 2015. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held the award ceremony on 10 September 2015, at the Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.

A primary school in Havana, Cuba, is named after her.