Ho Chi Minh

(1890–1969), North Vietnamese president. Born on 19 May 1890 in the village of Kim Lien, in the province of Nghe An in Vietnam, Ho was originally named Nguyen Sinh Cung. At ten, his name was changed to Nguyen Tat Thanh (Nguyen Who Will Be Victorious). In 1911, he left Vietnam for France. In 1919, when U.S. president Woodrow Wilson came to France, Nguyen tried to enlist his support for Vietnamese self-determination; rebuffed, he turned to communism. He became a member of the French Communist Party in 1920 and changed his name to Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot). From 1921 to 1929, Nguyen energetically participated in the political activities of the International Communist Party and published a book entitled Revolutionary Path in 1927. In 1923, he went to the Soviet Union to win support for his cause among exiled Vietnamese dissidents. His travels also took him to China, Burma, and India. On 3 February 1930, with the approval ofMoscow and the support of China, Ho formed the Indochina Communist Party (later referred to as the Viet Minh) in Hong Kong.

Nguyen renamed himself again in 1940, as Ho Chi Minh (Ho Who Aspires to Enlightenment). In 1941, Ho was arrested in China on charges of being a spy for the French. In prison, Ho composed patriotic poems, which expressed his determination and the internal strength to achieve his goal of Vietnamese independence. In 1944, he returned to Vietnam, where he led resistance against both the French and the Japanese. He declared Vietnam's independence from France on 2 September 1945 and named the country the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). He served as the DRV's first president (1945–1969). The French were unwilling to accept Vietnam's independence, however, and the First Indochina War was fought from 1946 until France's decisive defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Vietnam was partitioned at the seventeenth parallel, with the DRV governing the northern portion. Ho, determined to reunite Vietnam, soon found himself fighting the United States; he died before reunification was achieved. The Vietnamese affectionately called him "Uncle Ho." Ho lived in a modest home in Hanoi until his death; that house is on display in Hanoi as part of the mausoleum built in his honor, which is visited by thousands every day. Although highly praised as an outstanding leader, he also received much criticism for to his uncompromising strategies and his willingness to achieve his goals at any price.

Duiker, William J. (2000) Ho Chi Minh: A Life. New York: Hyperion.

Halberstam, David. (1987) Ho. New York: Knopf.

Hunt, H. Michael. (1996) Lyndon Johnson's War: America's Cold War Crusade in Vietnam, 1945–1968. New York: Hill and Wang.

Kamm, Henry. (1996) Dragon Ascending: Vietnam and the Vietnamese. New York: Arcade.

McNamara, Robert. (1999) Argument without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy. New York: Public Affairs.

Nugent, Nicholas. (1996) Vietnam: The Second Revolution. Brighton, U.K.: In Print.

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