Ho Chi Minh

 Marxist Revolutionary ,Commander of Viet Minh Freedom Fighters

 

Born: May 19, 1890, Nghe An Province
Died: September 2, 1969, Hanoi 
Full name: Nguyễn Sinh Cung  
Spouse: Tăng Tuyết Minh (m. 1926–1969)  
Education: Communist University of the Toilers of the East (1923 – 1925)  
Books: Down with colonialism

Vietnamese Marxist revolutionary leader ,Ho Chi Minh was a key figure in the formation the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as a galvanized nation in 1945. He led the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Vietcong during the Viet­nam War until his death in 1969. He was prime minister (1945-1955) and president (1945-1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, setting up the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French in 1954.

The Vietnam War engulfed Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955, to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. In this war South Vietnam was supported by the United States against the local Viet Cong and the People's Army that won under his leadership. The capital of South Vietnam, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

After the First World War, Ho petitioned for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Ver­sailles peace talks, but was ignored. He became a founding member of the French Communist Party and spent much of his time in Moscow. After Em­peror Bao Dai's abdication, he read the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In February 1950, he met with Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong after the Soviet Union recognized his government. They all agreed that China would be responsible for backing the Viet Minh. What hap­pened later is part of history.

“The French have fled, the Japanese have capitulated, Emperor Bao Dai has abdicated. Our people have broken the chains which for nearly a cen­tury have fettered them and have won independence for the Fatherland. Our people at the same time have overthrown the monarchic regime that has reigned supreme for dozens of centuries. In its place has been estab­lished the present Democratic Republic.”

Letter to President Harry Truman, February 16, 1945.