Ho Chi Minh: 1947 - 1969

HO CHI MINH: 1947 - 1969
By
Mr. J. Michael Mauldwin
November 25, 2008
SPECIAL TOPICS (The Vietnam War)

Mr. Leonard J. Jones
(Eleven Pages)
Mauldwin 2
Ho Chi Minh: During the Vietnam War
Following the surrender of Nazi Germany, Vietnam was divided into two parts at the
Potsdam Conference with the Chinese and the British given the responsibility of pushing the
Japanese out of Vietnam during the final stages of the Second World War from the north and
south respectively. However, France wanted to reoccupy Vietnam since it had been a French
colonial possession prior to the war. Ho Chi Minh, the predominant leader of the revolutionary
movement in northern Vietnam, felt the time was right for a rebellion and therefore took
advantage of the French absence and announced the formation of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam (DRVN) north of the 16th parallel on September 2, 1945.1 The south became known as
the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). By 1947 the French aggressively refused to recognize the
DRVN and attempted to reclaim their grasp on Vietnam through military action. Discontent
between the parties escalated rapidly and from 1947 until 1954 the First Indochina War was
fought with limited United States (U.S.) involvement.2 The end of war marked the first time that
a third world country had beaten a super power; France had been beaten by Ho Chi Minh and the
DRVN.
On April 27, 1954, the Geneva Accords were signed which stipulated that all French forces
would withdraw from Vietnam and in accordance with the Potsdam Conference, national
elections would be held in July of 1956. These elections would not only have resulted in the
election of a single president, but also the basis for the reunification of Vietnam.
William J. Duiker, Ho Chi Minh: A Life (New York: Hyperion, 2000), 8.
Lind, Michael. Vietnam: The Necessary War. New York: The Free Press, 1999, 9.
Mauldwin 3
As the foundation for liberation of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh did not see the bourgeois as the
crucial segment of Vietnamese society that would bolster the revolution as taught by Lenin,
rather, he believed the peasants were the key to Vietnams independence and by promoting
ideals such as land reform, independence, better working conditions, and nationalism, Ho Chi
Minh appealed to group of people on a much greater scale.
Following the Second World War the United States foreign policy shifted from
Isolationism to Containment. Many supporters of the United States containment policy believed
that the Soviet Union was directly involved with the conflict in Southeast Asia and their beliefs
were supported by Mao Zedongs takeover in China, the Korean conflict, and the likely election
of a Communist president in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, who would join the divided country.3
In the North, Ho Chi Minh was supported not only by the majority of the populace, but more
importantly, by all of the youth of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was looked upon as a simple, humble,
yet very nationalistic hero who had defeated the French and won Vietnam its independence. He
not only represented the people, he was one of the people. In contrast, Ngo Dinh Diem was not
looked upon favorably by the people for a number of reasons; he had very little in common with
the South Vietnamese people, he was from central Vietnam, he was also a symbolic choice of the
United States, he was Catholic rather than Buddhist, he was flamboyant rather than humble, and
he was abusive rather than compassionate. In other words Diem was bad for Vietnam but good
for the United States.4
While the spread of Communism was a concern for the U.S., it was also a major concern for
the Soviet Union. In fact, the Soviet Union had determined it was ill advised to continue its
Halberstam, David. Ho. New York: Random House, 1971, 106.
Ibid, 107.
Mauldwin 4
support of the DRVN because its actions did not promote their views of communist expansion.
Hindered, the DRVN turned towards China and found support from Mao Zedong. Ho Chi Minh
did not trust Mao Zedong because he felt Mao maintained underlying intentions to reclaim
Vietnam. Regardless of the tremulous relationship, China provided logistical supplies and
advisors in support of Vietnams pursuit of liberation.5
As conditions grew worse in the RVN, insurgent activities increased. In 1959 Ho Chi Minh
sent a trusted advisor, Le Duan, to assess the situation. Le Duan reported that the policy in the
south was to arrest, imprison, and/or kill any opposition to the government and it had been so
successful that unless the DRVN intervened, Vietnam would never be reunited. Therefore, Ho
Chi Minh agreed to support the insurgency and urged the various guerilla groups in the south to
unite. In December 1960, more than a dozen different political and religious groups came
together and formed the National Liberation Front (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong, a united
Communist insurgency that was dedicated to total victory, regardless of the cost.6
In March 1962, the U.S. - Diem Strategic Hamlets program was initiated in order to deny the
Viet Cong refuge in the rural areas in South Vietnam. This program relocated farmers,
sometimes entire villages, from ancestral lands and moved them into protected hamlets, or
camps. Many of these hamlets were soon infiltrated and controlled by the Viet Cong. Diem
subsequently ordered the bombing of many of these hamlets, supported by U.S. pilots, in order to
regain control of the hamlets. This action served to further turn the populace against the RVN
government.7
Duiker, William J. The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam. Boulder: Westview Press, 1981, 225.
Ho Chi Minh. (On-line) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNhochiminh.htm, Accessed November 18, 2008.
The Vietnam War: American Commits (On-line) http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1961.html, Accessed November

23, 2008.
Mauldwin 5
On May 8, 1963, Ho Chi Minh addressed the Sixth Session of the Second National
Assembly of the DRVN. Ho Chi Minh denounced the division of the Fatherland (Vietnam) and
the escalating war led by the U.S. - Diem regime against the DRVNs southern compatriots. He
rallied the assembly by describing the plight of the south, professing examples of daily strife that
was endured such as government terrorization, murders, villages being burned, lands being
sprayed with chemicals, the destruction of crops, and entire villages being forced into
concentration camps called Strategic Hamlets. He called their struggle of opposition, a heroic
struggle in attempt to be free. Ho Chi Minh also said the compatriots in the south were fighting
to defend the North as it established a Socialist infrastructure which would support the liberation
efforts in the south.8
During the Sixth Session, near the end of his address, Ho Chi Minh openly dared President
Kennedy to answer this question, For what reason have you launched an aggressive war in
South Vietnam and wasted billions of dollars of the American people to support a corrupt and
dictatorial administration, spat upon by the South Vietnamese people? What right do you have
to force tens of thousands of young Americans to come and kill innocent South Vietnamese, then
to get killed in this unjust, dirty war? Ho Chi Minh also cited Kennedys criticism of President
Eisenhowers Vietnam involvement as a blind act of suicide. He surmised in his closing
remarks, that the U.S. would lose and Vietnam would eventually be reunited.9
The war and the U.S involvement escalated over the next two years and Ho Chi Minh
remained subversive. On July 20, 1965, he surfaced and openly appealed to the masses for a free
"Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Address to the Sixth Session of the Second National Assembly of the Democratic
Republic of Viet Nam (May 8, 1963)." (On-line)
http://www.cpv.org.vn/english/archives/details.asp?topic=14&subtopic=99&leader_topic=41&id=BT1870336852, Accessed November 19,
2008.
9
Ibid.
Mauldwin 6
Vietnam during the tenth anniversary of the national election date, established by the Geneva
Accords in 1954. Ho Chi Minh stated that while the agreement recognized the sovereignty,
independence, unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam, the U.S. had ignored the agreements
and interfered with the reunification of Vietnam by continued military escalation in the south.
He felt this act was an attempt to intimidate the populace and U.S. interference threatened not
only Vietnam, but all of Asia. Ho Chi Minh fed the peoples hope of continued unification and
resolve in pursuit of a free Vietnam. When Ho Chi Minh wrote this appeal, the U.S. was
publicly seeking peace negations and had announced the DRVN did not wish to participate. Ho
Chi Minh countered the U.S. statements by accusing the U.S. of aspiring for peace while at the
same time continuing to build military bases and increase troop strength in South Vietnam, along
with an intensified bombing campaign against North Vietnam.10
Ho Chi Minh publicly called on all men, women, and children to join together, as part of
their sacred duty, to defend the fatherland. He admonished the soldiers and officials serving
RVN as puppets of the U.S., and reminded them that they were also patriots and called for them
to join the peoples side and fight for liberation. He directed comments to U.S. soldiers, stating
there was no animosity between each other and together they should oppose the U.S. intervention
and support the liberation of Vietnam.11
Ho Chi Minh felt women, like peasants, needed to play a larger role in the countrys
liberation efforts because they had always assumed a lesser role in Vietnamese society, although
10
"Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Appeal on the occasion of July 20, 1965." (On-line)
2008.
11
"Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Appeal to compatriots and fighters throughout the country (July 17, 1966)." (Online) http://www.cpv.org.vn/english/archives/details.asp?topic=14&subtopic=99&leader_topic=41&id=BT1870336281, Accessed November 19,
2008.
Mauldwin 7
they were very important. Therefore, he encouraged the members of the political cadres to place
more emphasis on women being placed in positions of increasing responsibilities.12
In October 1967 Ho Chi Minh wrote a paper entitled The great October Revolution opened
the road of liberation to all peoples in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet
Revolution. He claimed hundreds of thousands of U.S. troop casualties and also more than 2,300
U.S. aircraft had been shot down by the NLF and the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN) over
the past three years. The successes of the Vietnamese were tied to the successes of the Soviet
Revolution, Ho Chi Minh wrote, and with the teachings of Lenin. 13 This rhetoric was repeated
frequently and, invariably over the years, showed how the two countries shared the common
goals of Communism. Although there had been rifts between the DRVN and the Soviet Union,
the two had begun to regain ground in support of each others agendas.14
By the end of 1967, many Americans believed the war in Vietnam was drawing to a
conclusion, based upon the Body Count reports of General Westmoreland, the U.S. senior
military commander in Vietnam. Perhaps, because of these reports, Americans were drawn into
a sense of false security due to the immense enemy losses illustrated nightly by reporters such as
Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley at the beginning of their news broadcasts. Armed with this
information, the majority of Americans felt the war was not a mistake and that we should
maintain our position.15
12
"Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Talk to district cadres in a training class (January 18, 1967)." (On-line)
2008.
13 "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): The great October Revolution opened the road of liberation to all peoples (October
1967)." (On-line) http://www.cpv.org.vn/english/archives/details.asp?topic=14&subtopic=99&leader_topic=41&id=BT1870335888, Accessed
November 19, 2008.
14
Duiker, William, J. The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam. Boulder: Westview Press, 1981, 231.
15
Sobel, Richard. The Impact of Public Opinion On U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 33.
Mauldwin 8
On the morning of January 30, 1968, at the beginning of Tt, irregular and regular
communist forces struck multiple locations throughout the RVN. According to General Vo
Nguyen Giap, the PAVN Commanding General, the offensive had three main objectives:
military, political, and diplomatic.16 Ho Chi Minh and his supports understood that militarily,
American de-escalation was an inevitable eventuality. The DRVN sought and gained a political
advantage by further dividing the American public and its own government. After TT , 70% of
Americans wanted U.S. forces to be withdrawn from Vietnam.17 Finally, not only the direct
effects, but the ripple effects as well, resulted in the DRVN gaining diplomatic recognition in the
Communist, and Capitalist, arenas.
Ho Chi Minh understood the need to educate the populace in the ways of Communism as
early as the 1920s. He understood the Vietnamese were a simple people and incapable of
understanding Leninism without a guiding hand. Therefore, initially in the north, with great
care, over 12,000 general education schools were established. There was a primary school in
each village and at least one secondary school in every district. Cadre instructed more six
million workers, peasants, and additional cadre in the ideals of Communism.18
On November 3, 1968, Ho Chi Minh issued another appeal to the nation in which he stated
that the United States had unconditionally ceased its bombings of the DRVN as a result of the
many losses sustained by American forces. Ho Chi Minh wrote, We have defeated the war of
destruction of the American imperialists in the North. But this is only an initial victory. In
order to end hostilities, Ho Chi Minh had four ultimatums for the U.S.; the U.S. must end its war
16
Interview with Vo Nguyen Giap. (On-line) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/guerrillawars/giaptranscript.html, Accessed

November 20, 2008.
17 Yancey, Diane. The Vietnam War. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc, 2001, 23.
18
"Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part three (1954-1969): Letter on the occasion of the new school year (October 1968)." (On-line)
2008.
Mauldwin 9
of aggression and abstain from interference with the DRVN, all American and satellite troops
must withdraw from RVN, Vietnam would be left to settle its own internal affairs without
foreign interference, and the question of reunification would be settled by the people of
Vietnams two zones.19
As 1969 began anew, so did the fighting. Ho Chi Minh strongly felt that Americas defeat
was certain. The 1968 Tt Offensive had cost the Communists many of its younger fighters
since very negative outcome of the offensive was the resultant combat ineffectiveness of the Viet
Cong as a fighting unit for the remainder of the conflict. Therefore, perhaps in order to bolster
morale and take advantage of the growing number of older party members, Ho Chi Minh called
for an end to individualism which focused on the me and not the all because he felt that in
order to be meritorious revolutionary fighters, each party member must imbue the ideals of
Communism and party policies. This was the topic of his final address to the people of
Vietnam which he composed on February 3, 1969, as he became ill and his health increasingly
failed.20
On May 10, 1969, at the age of sixty-nine, Ho Chi Minh wrote his last testament. Within
the pages he penned his regrets for not being able to serve the revolution and the people longer.
He wanted his countrymen to maintain a oneness that could only be achieved through unity.
He emphasized that although the party was powerful, is mission was to support and provide for
the people through training and education and it was not meant to be the other way around. In
his closing comments, he asked that there be no grand funeral because he did not want to waste
the peoples money or time. Lastly he left his boundless love to the people, the party, the army,
19
Ibid
"Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part three (1954-1969): Elevate Revolutionary Ethics, make a clean sweep of individualism." (On-line)
2008.
20
Mauldwin 10
his family, and the youth.21 Ho Chi Minh died of heart failure on September 2, 1969 in Hanoi
where he was laid to rest. The people of Vietnam fought on in his memory. His dream of a
single, unified, Vietnam, would be realized six years later.
21
"Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part three (1954-1969): Testament." (On-line)
2008.
Mauldwin 11
Works Cited
Duiker, William J. Ho Chi Minh: A Life. New York: Hyperion, 2000.
. The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam. Boulder: Westview Press, 1981.
Giap, Vo Nguyen. "Interview with Vo Nguyen Giap." People's Century: Guerilla Wars 1956-1989. (1973).
Halberstam, David. Ho. New York: Random House, 1971.
Lind, Michael. Vietnam: The Necessary War. New York: The Free Press, 1999.
Minh, Ho Chi. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Address to the Sixth Session of
the Second National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam." Communist Party of
Vietnam Central Committee. May 8, 1963.
http://www.cpv.org.vn/english/archives/details.asp?topic=14&subtopic=99&leader_topic=41&id=
BT1870336852 (accessed November 19, 2008).
. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Elevate Revolutionary Ethics, make a
clean sweep of individualism." Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee. February 3, 1969.
. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part three (1954-1969): Testament." Communist Party of
Vietnam Central Committee. May 10, 1969.
. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Appeal on the occasion of July 20,
1965." Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee. July 20, 1965.
. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Appeal to compatriots and fighters
throughout the country." Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee. July 17, 1966.
. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part three (1954-1969): Letter on the occasion of the new
school year ." Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee. October 1968.
. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): Talk to district cadres in a training
class." Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee. January 18, 1967.
Mauldwin 12
. "Ho Chi Minh Selected Writings: Part Three (1954-1969): The great October Revolution opened
the road of liberation to all peoples." Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee. October
1967.
Sobel, Richard. The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001.
Spartacus. Ho Chi Minh. October 7, 2007. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNhochiminh.htm
(accessed November 18, 2008).
The Vietnam War: America Commits. October 15, 2007.
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1961.html (accessed November 23,
2008).
Yancey, Diane. The Vietnam War. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc, 2001.

Ho Chi Minh: 1947 - 1969

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Ho Chi Minh: 1947 - 1969

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

HO CHI MINH: 1947 - 1969

SPECIAL TOPICS (The Vietnam War)

William J. Duiker, Ho Chi Minh: A Life (New York: Hyperion, 2000), 8.

Halberstam, David. Ho. New York: Random House, 1971, 106.

Ho Chi Minh. (On-line) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNhochiminh.htm, Accessed November 18, 2008.

The Vietnam War: American Commits (On-line) http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1961.html, Accessed November

Interview with Vo Nguyen Giap. (On-line) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/guerrillawars/giaptranscript.html, Accessed

Potrebbero piacerti anche