Nguyễn Văn Trỗi (1 February 1940[1] – 15 October 1964) was a Vietnamese revolutionary and member of the NLF (National Liberation Front).

He gained notoriety after being captured by ARVN forces while trying to assassinate United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. who were visiting South Vietnam in May 1964.

Apart from advocacy by revolutionaries like the Weather Underground,[7] and a brief mention in Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book (1971) as a "Vietnamese hero",[8] Trỗi is still rarely acknowledged in Western accounts of the Vietnam War.

[10] In Hồ Chí Minh City, the major road upon which McNamara traveled—and where Trỗi planned to assassinate him—is named Nguyen Van Troi Boulevard and a memorial park, the Bia tưởng niệm Anh Hung Liet Si Nguyễn Văn Trỗi is located near the former Cong Ly Bridge.

Anti-war activists Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden named their son, an actor now known as Troy Garity, in honor of Trỗi.

[11] The 1975 film Chronicle of a Latin American subversive (Spanish: Crónica de un subversivo latinoamericano) by director Mauricio Walerstein, narrates the kidnapping episode of Colonel Smolen (portrayed as Colonel Robert Whitney by actor Claudio Brook) by FALN guerrillas in response to Trỗi's death sentence.