(1890–1969). The founder of the Indochinese Communist party, Ho Chi Minh was the president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. He was popularly called Uncle Ho. He is remembered for his fight against French and American domination of his country.

Early life

Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyen Tat Thanh on May 19, 1890, in Hoang Tru, Vietnam. At the time Vietnam was controlled by France and known as French Indochina.

Ho had many different jobs. For more than three years he lived as a seaman, visiting Boston, New York, and some African ports. After living in London from 1915 to 1917 he moved to France. There he switched jobs often, working as a gardener, a sweeper, and a waiter.

Nationalist activities

Ho became an active socialist in France. Under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot) he organized a group of Vietnamese revolutionaries. At the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 he wrote to representatives of the world powers, demanding that France give the people of Indochina equal rights. He joined the French Communists in 1920. He left France for Moscow in the Soviet Union in 1923 and then went to Canton, China.

In Canton Ho organized the first members of the Vietnamese national movement into the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth Association. It became famous under the name Thanh Nien. In 1927 the Chinese Communists were forced to leave Canton, and Ho went to the Soviet Union for safety. In 1928 he went to Brussels, Paris, and then Thailand.

On February 3, 1930, Ho led the founding of the Vietnamese Communist party. The name was later changed to the Indochinese Communist party. It was in 1940 that Ho began to use the name Ho Chi Minh, meaning “he who enlightens.”

Ho Chi Minh, along with others, formed the Viet Minh in 1941 to promote the cause of Vietnamese independence. By 1945 the Japanese had overrun Vietnam and defeated the French, and later in the year the Japanese were defeated by the United States. Within a few months Ho was working with United States forces. His Viet Minh soldiers fought against the Japanese in the mountains of South China. On August 19, 1945, Ho's troops moved into Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital. On September 2 Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent.

War with France and the United States

France did not want to accept an independent Vietnam. On October 6, 1945, a strong French army landed in Saigon. Within three months the French had control of South Vietnam. Ho had only two options before him—war or negotiations. He chose to talk with the French instead of fighting. France would not speak about independence during the negotiations.

Ho went to France for a series of conferences between June and September 1946. There he made a peace agreement with the French government. However, when a French warship fired on the town of Haiphong in November 1946, the peace was broken. Almost 6,000 Vietnamese were killed, and the first Indochina War began on December 19.

In 1948 the French offered to return the former Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai to his previous position. The emperor had resigned in support of the revolution in August 1945. The French were trying to weaken the Viet Minh by supporting the ruling class in Vietnam. Their efforts were not successful. By the end of 1953 most of the countryside was under Viet Minh control. The French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954, and had no choice but to negotiate. Vietnam was divided and Ho's government got control of the northern part of the country, which became North Vietnam.

In 1959 a group later known as the Vietcong began a war against the regime in South Vietnam, which received massive support from the United States. Ho supported the Vietcong. He believed that the success of Communism in North Vietnam depended on unification with South Vietnam. In 1959 Ho gave up his position as head of the Vietnamese Communist party, but he remained chief of state with great influence in the country. He died on September 2, 1969. His goal of a united Vietnam free from foreign influence was achieved in 1975, six years after his death, when the last United States troops left South Vietnam. (See also Vietnam War.)