It was the site of the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975 that ended the Vietnam War, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

Meanwhile, Diệm and his ruling family moved to Gia Long Palace (today the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City).

However, Diệm did not see the completed hall as he and his brother and chief adviser Ngô Đình Nhu were assassinated after a coup d'état led by General Dương Văn Minh in November 1963.

The completed hall was inaugurated on 31 October 1966 by the chairman of the National Leadership Committee, General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, who was then the head of a military junta.

The Independence Hall served as Thiệu's home and office from October 1967 to 21 April 1975, when he fled[2] the country as communist North Vietnamese forces swept southwards in the decisive Ho Chi Minh Campaign.