On-site surveys, conducted by international agencies, reported that, up until his retirement in 2002, Le Van's daily VOA broadcasts were eagerly sought after by 75+ million Vietnamese people throughout Vietnam.  The same broadcasts were also aired in many countries to serve the 3+ million Vietnamese expatriates all over the world, mostly in the United States.  

As VOA correspondent in charge of White House and U.S. Congress activities, Le Van was in a unique position to inform his audience and comment on every world events in those 4 decades, notably:

In 1963, Le Van reported two presidential deaths in the same year. U.S. President Kennedy, whom he had met at the White House two years earlier, and Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem both died by assassination.

In 1969, he recounted the first time U.S. astronauts landed on the Moon, the death of Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, and the election of Richard Nixon as the 37th U.S. President, followed by his Watergate near-impeachment scandal that led to an unprecedented presidential resignation in 1974.

Le Van witnessed and covered the next 6 U.S. Presidential elections (from Gerald Ford, to Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) as well as major events such as the Martin Luther King March on Washington, the Vatican special Multi-Religion Prayers for Vietnam, in Rome, etc.

Thoughout the Vietnam war, he recounted daily events, from coup d'etats in Saigon to Washington's decisions to bomb Hanoi, quarantine Hai Phong, the Vietnamization program, the 1975 retreat, among others.

In 1975, when the Vietnam war dreadfully ended, Le Van was involved in the refugee program on both personal and official fronts.  Officially, as later recounted by boat people and re-education camp survivors, "in our darkest moments, Mr. Le Van's sincere and caring voice gave us hope for life, with information on the boat people and refugee programs in the world, particularly the U.S., hence nurturing our will to survive despite the unimaginable hardships we endured."  Personally, he sponsored many refugee families and offered them a place in his own home while helping them resettle into an independent and dignified new life.

For a special 25-year post-Vietnam war broadcast in 2000, Le Van interviewed President Ford (at the Gerald Ford Foundation in Michigan) who said that he was very sorry he couldn't get more Vietnamese allies out of Vietnam in April 1975, to evade the inhuman re-education camps.

In the same year, 1975, Le Van covered the rise of Margaret Thatcher as British Prime Minister, then the Afghanistan-Soviet occupation in 1979, the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, the tragic Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986, the stunning fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and the appalling 9/11 World Trade Center destruction by terrorists in 2001.

A graduate of the School of Law, University of Saigon, Le Van went on to Georgetown University, Washington DC, for a Master's degree in International Relations.  Upon retirement from the Voice of America, Le Van is a frequent Speaker on World events and Vietnamese community discussions.  But his "second life" is mainly devoted to his 30-year passion for Wine.  Le Van, now a Certified Specialist of Wine, is dedicated to the appreciation and understanding of Wine.