Who Was Ho Chi Minh? A Deceitful Mass Murderer.

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.

When he returned to Vietnam as Ho Chi Minh 30 years later, the patriot was no more.  In his place was a brutal murderer dedicated to spreading communism throughout Asia.  Before he and his followers were done, millions of people were dead in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Although Ho died in 1969 and in his latter years had little to do with day-to-day affairs, the actions of his successors followed his teachings and behavior precisely for many years.  He is as responsible for the results as if he had overseen them directly.

As the man responsible for the spread of communism in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, Ho Chi Minh is directly and indirectly responsible for the lives of 1.7 million Cambodians, C.f. Yale’s Cambodian Genocide Project http://www.yale.edu/cgp/ 2 million Vietnamese and possibly 230,000 in Laos. C.f. Hmong Journey for Freedom http://www.hmongstudies.org/HmongJourneyforFreedom.html  These are not war dead, but people murdered, starved to death and “reeducated” to death.  In 1995 Vietnam revealed that they lost 1.1 million military dead Copy of an Agence France Presse news release of 4 April 1995 http://www.rjsmith.com/kia_tbl.html#press during the war.  As a percentage of their populations, Ho is responsible for as many deaths in Indochina as Mao Tse-tung was in China.

To grasp the enormity of the slaughter, one would have to execute more than 26 million Americans to equal the percentage of the populations slaughtered by Ho and his henchmen.  Documenting these deaths is outside the scope of this article.  I encourage readers to survey the literature themselves for the evidence.

Who was Ho Chi Minh?  Ho Chi Minh was a chameleon.  He was a master at appearing to be whatever his interlocutor of the moment was expecting or hoping for (or not expecting at all).  On the inside, where it counted, he never changed after his conversion to communism.  He was a devoted communist whose only goal was the worldwide victory of communism, especially in Indochina, Ho wanted more than Vietnamese communism.  He wanted the same for Laos and Cambodia.  He used his troops to overturn both the Laotian and the Cambodian governments and replace them with communist governments in clear violation of international laws.  Although it didn’t happen in his lifetime, his followers fulfilled his goals completely. no matter how many people he had to kill to achieve it.

Much of Ho Chi Minh’s life was an enigma until recently. The scholar William Duiker wrote his definitive biography, Ho Chi Minh: A Life, which was published in 2000, more than 30 years after Ho’s death.  His birthdate was unknown for many years after his death.  It was variously claimed to be 1890, Tran Dan Tien, Nhung mau chuyen ve doi hoat dong cua Ho Chu Tich (Hanoi:Nha Xuat Ban Van Hoc 1972) (1948). 1891, Yen Son. “Nguyen Ai Quoc, the Brilliant Champion of the Revolution.” Thuong Tin Hanoi. 30 Aug. 1945. 1892, In his application to the French Colonial School – “Nguyen Tat Thanh, born 1892 at Vinh, son of Mr. Nguyen Sinh Huy (subdoctor in literature)" 1894 He told Paris Police he was born January 15, 1894, an obvious lie. and 1895. Ton That Thien 18, 1890 is the most likely year of his birth.  There is troubling conflicting evidence, however.  When he was arrested in Hong Kong in 1931, he attested in court documents that he was 36. The passport he used to enter Russia in 1921 also gave the year 1895 as his birth date.  His application to the Colonial School in Paris gave his birth year as 1892.  His birth name was Nguyen Sinh Cong. “Lời truyền miệng dân gian về Hồ Chí Minh.” BBC Vietnamese 5 Aug 2005. BBC Vietnamese Web.  He was named Nguyen Tat Thanh, Duiker, William J. Ho Chi Minh: A Life (New York:Hyperion 2000), 17-18 Nguyen Sinh Cong was his “milk” or birth name, and Nguyen Tat Thanh (He who will succeed) reflected the hopes of the family for his future in his adolescence. following Vietnamese tradition, when he achieved adolescence.  He was the son of Nguyen Sinh Sac (Huy). Ho’s father changed his name to Nguyen Sinh Huy after earning the pho bang (equivalent to a Ph.D) to signify his academic achievements. Duiker 22  He was born in a small village named Kim Lien in the district of Nam Dan, part of the province of Nghe-An, in southern North Vietnam, about half way between Hanoi and Hue.

Concerning the confusion surrounding the details of Ho’s life, Robert Turner wrote, in a footnote in Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development: Turner, Robert F. Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development (Stanford, Ca:Hoover Institution Press 1975) 2

Ho used several pseudonyms throughout his life (possibly as many as 75), Duncanson, Dennis J. “Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong, 1931-1932” The China Quarterly, No. 57 (Jan.-­‐Mar.1974) 85, Duiker says 50 and cites books dedicated to identifying his many aliases that list as many as 75. Duiker 582 at least two of which he appropriated from true Vietnamese patriots, Nguyen Ai Quoc Huy Phong and Yen Anh. Unmasking Ho Chi Minh. 1989. in Vietnamese translated by Hai V. Tran.  "Vietnam Veterans for Factual History." VVFH.ORG. 2 Mar 2006 N.p., Web. 10 Mar. 2014. 7. and Ho Chi Minh.  Researchers have identified 9 names that he used from official communist documents alone.

Ho has variously been known as Nguyen Sinh Cong, Nguyen Tat Thanh Roughly translated “Nguyen who will succeed” (often mistakenly identified as his birth name), Ahn Ba[29. Duiker 44 (used when he was a kitchen boy aboard ship), Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot, which he “stole” from Phan Van Truong Huy Phong and Yen Anhm 7 From fraternity to intercolonial union, 1992, Folder 13, Box 05, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 08 - Biography, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 16 Mar. 2014. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2360513041>.  As Unmasking points out, Ho’s French was not good enough to be the author of articles written under the pseudonym Nguyen Ai Quoc.), Tran Van Tien, Tran Dan Tien T. Lan, T.Lan,Vua di duong vua ke chuyen (Stories along the road),Hanoi, Nha Xuat Ban Su That, 1976 (1963). Lee Swei, When he arrived in Canton in November 1924 under orders from the Comintern Lin, Hong Ha, Bac Ho tren dat nuoc Lenin (Uncle Ho in the land of Lenin), Hanoi, Nha Xuat Ban Thanh Nien, 1980. 76 Sung Man-cho and T. V. Wong, Duncanson 89 Ly Thuy and Vuong Son Nhi Rolph, Hammond Ho Chi Minh: Fifty Years of Revolution Studies in Comparative Communism, 1968, Vol.1(1), 55 and finally Ho Chi Minh (which he “stole” from the Vietnamese patriot, Ho Hoc Lam The patriot’s name was Ho Hoc Lam, and he hailed from the same province as “Ho”.  Huy Phong and Yen Anh, 17).  (Throughout this document I will use the name Ho, since it is the name most closely associated with him, except where other names make sense in the context.)

His words were often as fictitious as his names.  He lied about his place of birth. He claimed his place of birth was in the province of Ha Tinh (in his pseudonymous Nhung mau chuyen ve doi hoat dong cua Ho Chu).  In court documents in Hong Kong in 1931 he stated he was from Tung Hing in Lim Chow Fu of Kwangtung Province, China.  Duncanson 91  He lied about his date of birth. 1890 as Tran Dan Tien, 1892 in his French Colonial School application, 1894 to the Paris Police in 1920 and 1895 in his court appearance in Hong Kong  He lied about where he lived He claimed to have lived in the Britain, but the evidence is questionable. and what he did Ton That Thien 26 throughout his life.  He lied about who he was and what he believed.  He lied to create mystery, to hide the truth, to confuse authorities and most of all to further the cause of communism.

His life was so filled with deceit and deception that even now, more than 40 years after his death, historians can’t agree who he really was or about some of the details of his life.

As a child, Ho attended the Lycee Quoc Hoc in Hue (but never graduated).  Ngo Dinh Diem’s father, Ngo Dinh Kha, founded the school, and Ngo Dinh Diem (later to become his enemy), Pham Van Dong (later to become his premier) and Vo Nguyen Giap (later to become his military leader) also attended the school.

His father was friends with Pham Boi Chau and earned his pho bang degree the same year as Phan Chu Trinh.  They were the two most prominent patriots of his time, and young Ho was exposed to both of them through his father.

The mood in Vietnam at the time was one of rising anger, a growing desire to shed the yoke of French mastery and forge a new destiny.  Ho, as a young student, was an active part of it, participating in protests and working to stir up the people to oppose the French.  The French colonial police took notice and kept an eye on the young activist student.

In 1911, pursuing his desire to see the world and to escape the watchful eyes of the French colonial police, Ho boarded a French merchant ship, The Amiral Latouche-Tre'ville owned by Compagnie des Chargeurs Re'unis using the name Ba, Perhaps to hide from French authorities, who were looking for him at the time and worked as a kitchen boy aboard the ship.  Some accounts claim he lived in London for a while, and even in America, but there is little solid evidence to corroborate residence in either place. The main evidence is post cards sent from New York, Boston and London and a plaque on the New Zealand House in London, but he could easily have sent the postcards while working aboard ship and plaques are not proof of anything except received wisdom.  The postcards may have simply been an attempt to throw French authorities off his trail since he used his real name, Nguyen Tat Thanh, not Ba.  (The British authorities, at the request of the French searched fruitlessly for Nguyen Tat Thanh in London for several years.)

What he did for the six years from 1911 to 1917 is not known with any certainty.  It’s entirely possible that he was working aboard vessels of Compagnie des Chargeurs Re'unis the entire time, visiting ports all over the world.  That would explain his familiarity with the United States and Britain as well as post cards stamped in those cities.  Both were ports of call, and the young Thanh was eager to disembark and explore the local cultures of each port where they docked.

In 1917, he settled in France and began attending socialist meetings.  He was an avid learner and soaked up everything he could about socialism and activism.  He was also a frequent visitor to the Sorbonne as well as the Bibliotheque Nationale where he is said to have been a “voracious reader”. Duiker 56

He first showed up in police files in France in 1919, after he had moved in with Phan Chu Trinh and Phan Van Truong and took a job with Trinh retouching photographs. Phan Chau Trinh was a friend of Ho’s father.  The two of them went to school together.  Ho’s father probably gave him a letter of introduction to give to Phan in the hope that Phan would keep an eye on his young son  Their apartment was the center of activity for a small group of dedicated Vietnamese nationalists known as the Five Dragons Ngo Van, In the Crossfire : Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary (Oakland, CA:AK Press) 240 The Five Dragons were Phan Chau Trinh, Phan Van Truong, Nguyen The Truyen, Nguyen An Trinh and Nguyen Tat Thanh aka Nguyen Ai Quoc who met frequently, had animated discussions about Vietnam and published articles advocating for Vietnamese independence.  One of the frequent attendees was also a police informant.

During the Treaty of Versailles conference, Trinh, Truong and Ho worked on a document to present to the conferees advocating for independence for Indochina.  Since the Surete´ was watching them closely, they published the document using a pseudonym, Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the patriot).  The document was conceived by Ho and written by Truong.

The name Nguyen Ai Quoc had appeared before in articles published in France, Judge 18 before Ho is known to have written anything and well before he was capable of writing in French.  The author was most likely Phan Van Truong Huy Phong and Yen Anh 9 according to French police notes Relations between Phan Chau Trinh and Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh),  1986, Folder 06, Box 13, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 08 - Biography, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 6 Apr. 2014. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2361306059>. 76, note 19 since he was a lawyer and spoke and wrote French fluently.  Ho admitted in his biography that he couldn’t write French and depended upon Truong to write the Versailles document for him. Duiker 59

After Versailles, rumors flew for three months about who Nguyen Ai Quoc might be.  The French investigated, trying to determine who the writer was.  In September, Ho “admitted” he was Quoc during a newspaper interview, stealing the pseudonym so he could appropriate to himself all the previous work done under that name. Huy Phong and Yen Anh 8-9  Thus he gained the credentials of a true Vietnamese nationalist that still fools people today.

Ho continued attending political meetings and learning about communism.  His change from a concerned nationalist to a committed communist appeared to happen rapidly.  In less than a year, he changed from begging for help for his Asian brothers Duiker 73 to promoting Asia as the fulcrum for a worldwide communist revolution.

He wrote Duiker 75 “…on the day when millions of oppressed Asians wake up, they will form a colossal force capable of overthrowing imperialism, and they will aid their brothers of the West in the task of total emancipation from capitalist exploitation.  Asia would play an active role in carrying out the world revolution.”

One year later he was on his way to Moscow, all expenses paid by the Comintern, to attend the Fourth Congress of the Comintern and enroll in intensive training. Duiker 86  He had become a committed communist, preparing to bring revolution to Indochina and misery and death to many of his fellow countrymen.

In 1924, fully trained and eager to begin his revolution, Ho traveled to Hong Kong as an agent of the Comintern.  He was now a Comintern insider, dedicated to the worldwide overthrow of capitalism and prepared to do whatever the Comintern asked of him.

He met with Phan Boi Chau in Hong Kong and began working with him to build a revolutionary movement (later named Viet Nam Thanh Nien Cach Mang Dong Chi Hoi [Young Revolutionary Comrades Association]). Trung Chinh “Ho and the Introduction of Leninism Into Vietnam” Hanoi, Nghien Cuu Lich Su, Vietnamese, No 132, May-June 1970, 48-55

Phan Boi Chau was a popular nationalist who had a large following (the Viet Nam Quang Phuc Ho) and extensive international contacts. Georges Boudarel, "Phan Boi Chau et la societe vietnamienne de son temps", in France-Asie, 1969, No 4.  He had united Vietnamese nationalists of all religions in the early twentieth century, arguing that the traditional anti-Catholicism was counterproductive and that all nationalists should unite in a common cause – to expel the French. Mcleod, Mark W. “Nationalism and Religion in Vietnam: Phan Boi Chau and the Catholic Question” The International History Review, 1992, Vol.14(4), 661-680

Chau represented a serious threat to Ho’s dreams of a communist Indochina as well as a rich resource of followers that Ho might tap once Chau was out of the way.  Less than a year after meeting him, Ho facilitated Phan Boi Chau’s arrest by the French It stretches credulity to think that Ho was not involved.  Since the ICP received the reward and Ho was its leader, there is little doubt that he was at least aware of the plot, if not directly involved. Chau was supposed to meet with Ho when he was arrested, yet Ho was not arrested. Nguyen Phut Tan. A Modern History of Vietnam, Saigon, Nha sach Khai Tri, 1964, 322-325. in exchange for money so that he could fill the vacuum left when Chau was arrested. Nguyen Khac Huyen, Vision Accomplished? the Enigma of Ho Chi Minh (New York:Collier Books 1971) 27-28.  (Although there is some controversy regarding who actually betrayed Chau, there is little question that Ho was involved.) David Halberstam, Ho Chi Minh. Paris, Buchet-Chastel, 1972, 58.

He didn’t hesitate to exploit the resource as soon as Chau was arrested.  Those Phan Boi Chau followers who accepted communism were welcomed into Ho’s movement.  Those that did not were betrayed to the French by Ho’s henchman, Nguyen Cong Vien, for money.  Thus Phan Boi Chau’s movement was both destroyed and subsumed through deceit and treachery. Honey 4-5

Consistent with his previous behavior, he stole the name Ho Chi Minh from Ho Hoc Lam, whom he met in China in 1924 when meeting with Phan Boi Chau. Trung Chinh  The name would inure to him the benefits of the real Ho Chi Minh’s legacy.  For the many Vietnamese revolutionaries who came from the Nghe Tinh region, the name would evoke patriotism and nationalism.   His plan was taking shape.  He would use the name Ho when the time was right.

There was a much darker side to Ho than his deceit and treachery however.

In 1930 and 1931, his Indochinese Communist Party conducted an assassination program against competitors, landowners and officials, that was so sweeping it prompted a rebuke from the Comintern. Duncanson 87  It was a harbinger of things to come.  Before he died, the bodies would pile up in a steady stream as he eliminated anyone who appeared to be a threat or simply didn’t agree with him completely.

Through the 1930’s and 40’s, as the ICP worked to gain complete control of Vietnam, thousands of patriotic Vietnamese fell to the sword, were turned over to the French for money or fled to Japan and China to escape the terror.  When it suited Ho’s purpose, some would serve in his government; when it no longer did, they would die or flee the country.

Once he obtained power in North Vietnam, he began systematically eliminating his competition.  He formed alliances with nationalist groups and then proceeded to eliminate their leaders all the while touting his nationalist credentials.

Moderate reformers like Bui Quang Chieu were assassinated as a matter of course, Bui Quang Chieu (1872-1945), no date, Folder 06, Box 01, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 08 - Biography, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 16 Mar. 2014. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2360106001> to “purify” the Vietnamese people so communism could succeed.  Even personal friends, like Ta Thu Thau, were murdered in his zeal to eliminate all but the most fervent of followers [footnote] The Human Cost of Communism in Vietnam: A Compendium Prepared for the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 17 February 1972, Folder 10, Box 07, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 11 - Monographs, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 6 Apr. 2014. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2390710003>. and destroy anyone who might challenge his leadership.  Those who were fortunate either escaped to other countries or to South Vietnam, where their luck would run out two decades later.  The rest died.

Ho, when asked about the murder of Ta Thu Thau by a reporter, answered  matter-of-factly, “Anyone who does not follow the line determined by me will be smashed.” Ngo Van 163

The last to go were the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, a nationalist organization that had risen up against the French in 1930 in Yen-Bai.  (This was the same year Ho created the Indochina Communist Party in Hong Kong and 11 years before he returned to Vietnam after a 30-year absence.)  Ho eliminated them through military action against the areas they controlled as well as arrests of the leadership and confiscation of their assets. Honey 8-9  By the end of 1946 there was no one left to contest Ho for leadership of North Vietnam.

The peasants soon discovered his true nature as well in the brutal land reforms.  Ostensibly they were designed to benefit the peasants.  In reality, they pitted the peasants against the middle class and wealthy and even against each other and resulted in at least 50,000 murders and 450,000 “other” deaths Teodoru, Daniel E. “The Bloodbath Hypothesis: The Maoist Pattern in North Vietnam's Radical Land Reform” Southeast Asian Perspectives, 1973(9),  1-79 It is remarkable how closely the North Vietnamese land reform followed Mao Tse-Tung’s extremely bloody pogroms.  Officially China admitted 14 million deaths.  Some scholars estimate more than 1 million deaths in North Vietnam due to land reform.  (C.f. Gerard Tongas and Hoang Van Chi).

The land reform was so brutal that the peasants revolted.  To maintain order Ho called in an entire division and slaughtered Vietnamese indiscriminately until the revolt was put down. Fall, Bernard B. “Crisis in North Viet-Nam” Far Eastern Survey, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan 1957), 12-15

It’s no wonder then that many American leaders predicted a bloodbath should the communists take over South Vietnam. Congressional Record, 06 May 1975, Folder 15, Box 13, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 05 - National Liberation Front, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 6 Apr. 2014. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2311315010>.  Nor is it surprising that apologists for the communists insisted that the predictions were wrong. D. Gareth Porter, The Myth of the Bloodbaths: North Vietnam's Land Reform Reconsidered (Ithaca: Cornell University Interim Report No. 2, September 1972). No Vietnamese 'Bloodbath' Is Found, 05 August 1975, Folder 04, Box 21, Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 06 - Democratic Republic of Vietnam, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 6 Apr. 2014. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=2322104063>

A bloodbath was exactly what they got.  Research revealed between 84,000 and 240,000 political executions Compilation of Data, Violation of Human Rights in Vietnam Project, UC-Berkeley, No Date, Folder 32, Box 03, Douglas Pike Collection: Other Manuscripts - Jackson-Desbarats Study, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 6 Apr. 2014. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1830328001>. in South Vietnam after the communists took over.  Given the ratio of executions to deaths in North Vietnam’s land reform, it’s not unreasonable to postulate a minimum of 840,000 deaths and a maximum of 2.4 million deaths Since research has shown a 9 to 1 ratio of murders to deaths, I calculated the numbers based on that ratio given the research results for Southern murders. in the South.

Ho’s lack of conscience and end justifies the means philosophy was manifested in the international agreements that he made as well.  He never honored agreements that he signed considering them simply a temporary appeasement of his enemies while he strengthened his position.

He signed agreements with the French in 1946 and just eight months later he attacked them.  He signed peace agreements in Geneva in 1954 and 1962, both of which he abrogated before the ink was dry.  (Of course his government followed in his footsteps and abrogated the peace treaty they signed with the US in 1973.)

He infiltrated (and later invaded) South Vietnam in violation of the Geneva Accords in order to destroy the ability of the South Vietnamese government to build confidence and safety among its citizens.  He maintained the fiction that the NLF was an independent organization in order to “negotiate” with the U.S. and South Vietnam from a stronger position.  (Of course he never had any intention of abiding by any accords that were signed.)

He quoted the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen to trick many Americans and the international community into thinking he believed in republican politics.  He did the same to Vietnamese nationalists, lulling them into the false sense of security that was shattered as soon as he could exercise his extreme brutality against his “enemies”.

Referring to the betrayal of Phan Boi Chau, the British scholar P.J. Honey wrote Honey 4:

Hammond Rolph sums up the contradictions of Ho in one sentence. Rolph 56

“To the Vietnamese people he has presented himself as a figure of avuncular benignity, while his political life has been a model of ruthless and militant dedication to the fulfillment of the national and social goals he has set for the Vietnamese Revolution.”

One of Ho’s favorite slogans can still be seen on billboards all over Vietnam today.  “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.” Duiker 3  Yet in Ho’s lifetime, he had the power to provide that independence and freedom to the people of North Vietnam and never did.

The people of South Vietnam had independence and freedom within the context of an ongoing war.  All the arguments about the corruption, the autocratic nature of the South Vietnamese government or suppression of some press outlets can’t obscure the fact that they had freedom of the press, open elections, opposition parties and open strident political criticism so long as it didn’t promote the Communist version of the truth.  North Vietnam had none of that.  When the North defeated the South, Ho’s mantra of independence and freedom, a reality in South Vietnam, was swept away in a brutal repression of all opposition to Communist rule.

The key to understanding Ho is presentation versus behavior.  A man can appear to be many things, but his actions define who he is.  Ho’s actions define him as a dedicated communist who never swerved from his goal.  Every move he made, every word he spoke was calculated to further that goal.  Millions died because of it.

In the pantheon of dictators who slaughtered millions of their own people, Ho stands proudly beside Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Hitler.  His record speaks for itself.

A pdf copy of this paper is available for download here.

Footnotes