Ho Chi Minh

Who is Ho Chi Minh?

Ho Chi Minh, born Nguyễn Sinh Cung in Nghệ An province, was the central figure of twentieth-century Vietnamese history. As a young man he spent decades abroad in France, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China, working menial jobs while developing anti-colonial and communist convictions. In 1919 he petitioned the Versailles Peace Conference for Vietnamese rights, and in 1930 he helped found the Indochinese Communist Party. In 1941 he returned home and organized the Viet Minh independence movement, and on 2 September 1945 he read the Declaration of Independence in Hanoi, proclaiming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He led the resistance against French colonial rule, culminating in the 1954 victory at Dien Bien Phu, and remained the guiding symbol of North Vietnam during the war with the United States until his death in 1969. Ho Chi Minh City was renamed in his honor.

Sources: William J. Duiker, 'Ho Chi Minh: A Life' (2000) · Pierre Brocheux, 'Ho Chi Minh: A Biography' (2007)