Ho Chi Minh

      Ho Chi Minh is still a much revered figure in Vietnam and his life and accomplishments are important parts of government nationalistic propaganda. His image is everywhere, which is interesting because he is said to have shunned the comforts and trappings of power. He requested that his remains be cremated and no special monuments erected. He died in 1969 (age 79) and did not live to see the reunification of Vietnam, a cause which he had dedicated his adult life to, but his influence is still felt.
     He is remembered more fondly in the North, where he was born. His father worked for the French as a teacher, but he was eventually fired because he was unwilling to learn French. He taught his children to resist French rule, but interestingly, he made sure Ho was sent to a French school because he thought it would help him prepare for the struggle against the French.
     Ho briefly became a teacher and then a sailor. He settled in Paris in 1917 where his socialist beliefs were nurtured. He was an admirer of Karl Marx and he became a founding member of the French Communist Party. He left Paris for China in the '30s and settled near the Vietnamese border where he helped start the Vietnam Revolutionary League. In the '40s he formed the Vietminh and mounted a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese, who had invaded Vietnam in order to secure a supply of rice. After WWII, the French wanted control again and refused to recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, so Ho and the Vietminh stepped up the fighting using guerilla tactics and trench warfare. By 1953, the Vietminh controlled the north.
     The French were defeated in 1954 at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The US, Soviet Union (who supplied arms to the Vietminh), Britain and France met after Dien Bien Phu and arbitrarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel. Control of the North went to Ho Chi Minh on the condition that the French would withdraw from the north and the Vietminh from the south.
     But Ho Chi Minh continued to work towards a united Vietnam. He supported the Vietnamese Resistance (know as the Viet Cong) in the south. This worried the States and in 1964, then President Johnson launched 'Operation Rolling Thunder' which was meant to destroy the North Vietnamese economy so that North Vietnam could no longer help the resistance in the south. The rest as they say, is history and the story for another blog entry!

This mausoleum in Hanoi houses the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh, the 'father' of Vietnam. Ironically, he did not want an elaborate or ostentatious monument and would be horrified by this building.

He is still known as 'Uncle Ho'. His photograph is
 on all denominations of VND and his picture can
be seen all over the country. Lots of photos show
him with young children, like an adoring grandfather. 

It says ' tomb of Ho Chi Minh'

Paul captured this great shot of the changing of the guard.