Reunification Palace

Reunification Palace, formerly Independence Palace, was the South Vietnamese equivalent of the White House. 

Actually, it was originally a beautiful palace for the French colonial governor.  Then after the Vietnamese declared independence in abut 1959, it was torn down and a new palace built on the site in 1962. 

That building was bombed in an assassination attempt on the president in 1966 and a new building designed and constructed.  After that, the president had a new bunker / bomb shelter put in underneath the palace during reconstruction. 

The building was in use again when it was bombed by the North Vietnamese in 1975.  This truly indicated the fall of Saigon.

It’s an interesting building in a “Michael Brady” sort of way.