Graham Martin was a newspaper publisher who occupied several diplomatic posts, among them U.S. Ambassador in Saigon from 1973 until 1975 (the last American Ambassador to Vietnam). He was blind to the prevailing corruption of Thieu's regime, and at the same time he opposed the decrease in U.S. aid to Saigon of the Nixon and Ford Administrations.

Ambassador Martin has been blamed for unnecessarily delaying the evacuation of American officials and dependents in South Vietnam. He finally evacuated the U.S. Embassy as the North Vietnamese troops were marching into Saigon.