READING HO’S MIND
In the 1960s as Americans began to hear more and more about a place unfamiliar to most of them, they were also learning the name of a man added to a growing list of leaders carrying the banner of communism and threatening Western ideals after World War II. The country was Vietnam, and the man was Ho Chi Minh, who led communist-controlled North Vietnam and wanted to take over South Vietnam to create an independent, unified communist country.
Although Ho’s name was largely unknown to Americans, he had been arguing for—and then fighting for—independence since the end of World War I. By the time the first U.S. combat units arrived in South Vietnam in March 1965, Ho was nearly 75 years old and would not get to see the last U.S. troops leave in March 1973. Ho died in September 1969.
Fifty years later, many Vietnamese still revere “Uncle Ho,” as he is affectionately called, for his relentless pursuit of independence. (U.S. troops in Vietnam also called him “Uncle Ho,” but mockingly.)
In forming his arguments for independence, theories of warfare and plans for a new social system in Vietnam, Ho drew on his own experiences and philosophies from the diverse array of cultures that he had studied.
Ho’s publicly espoused views meshed the tenets of Confucianism, the ideals of independence and freedom championed in democracies, and the common ownership characteristic of Marxist communism. He hoped those principles would inspire revolutionary fervor in the Vietnamese, while a concerted propaganda campaign instilled fear in opponents and weakened their will to endure a long war.
Ho acquired much of his knowledge of the East and West by living in both. He learned French, English, Russian and Chinese.
Born Nguyen Sinh Cung on May 19, 1890, in Kim Lien in Nghe An province in central Vietnam, he
