Millions of words have been written about Ho Chi Minh.  He has been called the George Washington of Vietnam, Whitman, Alden “Ho Chi Minh Was Noted for Success in Blending Nationalism and Communism.” New York Times 4 Sep. 1969 New York Times Web. 4 Sep. 2010 a devoted nationalist who loved his country, Duiker, William J. Ho Chi Minh: A Life (New York: Hyperion, 2000) a brilliant leader who fought for independence with a ragtag army of sandal-clad peasants and defeated the greatest power in the world. Associated Press “Legendary Vietnam Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap Dies.” USA Today Online. USA Today, 4 Oct. 2013

It all sounds very romantic, but it is also completely false.  Ho Chi Minh was a dedicated communist, Honey, P.J. “Vietnam: If the Communists Won” Southeast Asian Perspectives , No. 2 (Jun., 1971) , i-iv, 1-26 a member of the inner circle of the Soviet Comintern and a protégé of Dmitry Manuilsky, the right hand man of both Lenin and Stalin. Ton That Thien. Ho Chi Minh and The Comintern. (Singapore: Information and Resource Center, 1990), 21-23  His supposedly ragtag army of peasants was trained by the Mao’s Red Chinese Army The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Vol. 1 Chap. 4 (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971) and armed with modern weapons by the Red Chinese and Russians. The Pentagon Papers Vol. 1 Chap. 5

After all this time, why do we still argue about the Vietnam War?  About who Ho Chi Minh was?  As William Duiker wrote, Duiker 3 “The question of Ho Chi Minh’s character and inner motivations lies at the heart of the debate in the United States over the morality of the conflict in Vietnam.”

As a young man, Nguyen Tat Thanh was a Vietnamese patriot from a patriotic family agitating for independence for their country.  His father refused positions with the government because he disagreed with their policies.  His brother and sister were both imprisoned by the French for supporting Phan Boi Chau’s revolutionary movement. Judge, Sophie Quinn Ho Chi Minh: The Missing Years, 1919-1941 (London:C. Hurst & Co 2002) 21

Thanh seems to have been a follower of the non-violent Phan Chau Trinh. Judge 23-24  In 1911 he left Vietnam searching for a way to help his countrymen gain their independence.  For a while he lived and worked in France with Phan Chau Trinh.  Eventually they parted, as Ho became an increasingly more militant communist.