Ho+Chi+Minh+2.+Background


 * 1. Family and education in Vietnam **

Born 19th May 1890 as Nguyen Sinh Cung, third child of Nguyen Sinh Sac in a small village in the province of Nghe An Annam.

This area was intensely populated and had a long history of scholars and revolutionaries.
 * Nationalists such as Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chu Trinh came from this area
 * It was from here in the 8th and 15th centuries that China had been driven out.
 * Traces of Chinese citadel still remained in the village
 * Here in 1885, the last bastion of the ‘Scholars’ Revolt’ held out.

Simplistic rural lifestyle.
 * Many people in his village were conscripted and died building the ‘road of death’ to Laos.

Ho’s father was an orphan who was adopted by a scholar when he was 15.
 * Earned a masters degree and doctorate in Confucian examinations.
 * Opened a small school in his village rather than assuming work (as was expected) for the hated French government.
 * Saw mandarins as corrupt and incompetent; agents of French oppression.

Tutored by father’s scholar friends à influenced him to believe that scholars must lead their people to abandon the traditional imperial system and adopt modern institutions.
 * Ho had been taught fierce partiotism
 * Like Meiji Japan.
 * i.e. To defeat the French, you must understand them.

Ho studied French language and culture.
 * In 1906, Ho’s father took an official position at the Hue Court.
 * In 1907, Ho and his brother gained entry to the Quoc Hoc (National) Academy of Hue – the top Franco-Vietnamese school at the time.
 * Expelled in 1908 for translating for peasants’ protests against French corvée and taxation.

Family imprisoned and impoverished. []
 * Brother arrested and imprisoned in 1914.
 * Sister, likewise for stealing arms and ammunition for guerilla nationalists.
 * Father sent South as a magistrate in 1909 later dismissed and made a living selling medicinal herbs and teaching Chinese.
 * Ho also moved south in 1910, taught at a nationalist school.
 * 2. Western influences and travels **

Gained employment as a steward on a French steamship in 1911.
 * Travelled to
 * N and W Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Sengal, Sudan),
 * Saudi Arabia, India, France,
 * [1912] South America (Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires),
 * North America (New York: worked as a labourer, domestic servant and attended black activist meetings in Harlem.) à later claims he witnessed a lynching.
 * [1913] England (London: worked as a snow-sweeper, boiler operator and kitchen worker. Studied English, impressed by Irish Rebellion of 1916. Joined Overseas Workers Association),
 * Returned to France in 1917.

**American Influence –** Supported Wilson’s ideals of “self-determination”, worked closely with the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Charles Fenn fighting against the Japanese.
 * Joined Club du Fanburg, a speaking group where he gained confidence public speaking.
 * Worked as a photo retoucher and read widely.
 * Pilot rescue scheme.
 * Intelligence network.
 * 25 boxes of ammunition, arms and radio equipment.

Influence of American revolutionary history – founding forefathers – is apparent:
 * Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, 2nd September 1945: Ho quoted parts of the American Declaration of Independence.
 * “All men are created equal.”
 * Talked about “unalienable rights” of human beings
 * Band played the Star Spangled Banner.
 * US airforce flyby.