Ho Chi Minh


A committed Marxist and Vietnamese nationalist, Ho Chi Minh was never
willing to compromise on dreams for a united, independent Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh (May 19, 1890 - September 3, 1969) was a Vietnamese
revolutionary, statesman, Prime Minister (1954) and President
(1954 - 1969) of North Vietnam.

He received the name Nguy?n T?t Thˆnh at age 10. Ho embraced Communism while
living abroad in England (where he trained as a pastry chef under Escoffier)
and France from 1915 - 1923. In France, in 1918, Ho Chi Minh tried to win
independence from French colonial rule and was ignored. In 1919, he
petitioned the powers at the Versailles peace talks for equal rights in
Indochina. He soon helped form the Communist Party and spent much time in
Moscow. He later moved to Hong Kong, where he founded the Indochinese
Communist Party.

After adopting the name Ho Chi Minh, or "He Who Enlightens," he returned to
Vietnam in 1941 and declared the nation's independence from France. He led
the Viet Minh independence movement in 1941, directed successful military
actions against the Japanese occupation forces and later against the French
bid to reoccupy the country (1946-1954), and became President of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) in 1954 (he had declared
himself President on March 2, 1946 but this was not recognised
internationally). He signed an agreement with France which recognized
Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French
Union on March 6, 1946. He was a leading force in trying to re-unite North
Vietnam with South Vietnam through invasion during the 1960s. Ho led a
nearly continuous war against the French and, later, the American backers of
South Vietnam until his death in 1969.

The city Saigon (Sˆig˜n) was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, after him.