Ho Chi Minh: The Man to be Recognized
By
Leticia C. Guerrero Reyes
History 101
Professor Rich Gibson

Ho Chi Minh was a man who I didn’t know much about. All I knew is that he was
Vietnamese and that he was part of the Vietnam war. What I later found out, after intensive reading of books and articles that focused on this man, was that he was the main reason behind the Vietnam War. He was a great source of power, strength, and inspiration for his people. Ho
Chi Minh was born with low means but grew up as one of the greatest example of perseverance, motivation, and passion for his ideas than any other man. Ho changed the way people saw smaller countries that were conquered by colonials and how the world saw the United States of
America. I’ve learned that ideas can be just as powerful as any other weapon made by man, but
Ho Chi Minh was the proof that it is possible that with one idea, and organization of men, wars can be won. In order to exhibit Ho Chi Minh’s value as a great example, I find that writing some of the events that he went through will give a more clearer idea of why this man is one to be recognized throughout the entire world. Allow me give the you, the reader, the ability to see and reflect this man’s actions and true grit with describing a small part of this man’s journey to bring independence and equality to his beloved homeland.
According to the author William Duiker, Ho Chi Minh’s real name is Nguyễn Sinh Cung.
A Vietnamese man who many country leaders initially never thought of as a threatening man. To the Western part of the world like France, Ho seemed to be and Indochinese man who was surprisingly well read for a simple man of low means. Before his birth, France had complete control over Vietnam and in doing so, most of the Vietnamese adopted both the language and culture of the French, but unfortunately they never obtained legal rights. Having attended schools funded by the French government in and out of France, Ho Chi Minh absorbed the influence of

France but rejected its domination. According to a biography I found on YouTube, he was described as a man who was very “idealistic and very eager to learn”. This public deception of giving the impression of a humble man helped him maneuver easily in different places, meet different communist leaders, and become a Vietnamese Communist leader himself, as well as the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule.

When he added his ideologies with his great sense of valor, he triumphed and accomplished his goals. Minh could be described as an earnest yet gentle, reserved yet not timid.
He had several names and used many aliases as an underground Communist agent later in life.
He called himself Nguyen Ai Quoc, Nguyen the Patriot. A few decades later during a more turbulent time, he bestowed upon himself the name Ho Chi Minh; translated as “the enlightened”. A revolutionary, with a goal to gain independence of Vietnam from France, and he did it with deceiving the world. “He seemed to be mocking the world, and also mocking himself.” (Karnow 109).

Just as Karnow said in his book, Ho Chi Minh was born in May 19 1890 in central

Vietnam, Nguyen Sinh Cung, an area indirectly ruled by the French through puppet Emperor. He was later raised in a Vietnam village of Hoàng Trù (the name of the local temple near Làng Sen), his mother’s village. When Ho turned 11, his mother died shortly after giving birth to her third son, leaving Ho responsible for an infant while his father was away. Later when his father came back he took him back to his home village. “From 1895, he grew up in his father Nguyễn Sinh
Sắc’s village of
Làng Sen
,
Kim Liên
, Nam Đàn, Nghệ An Province. He had three siblings: his sister Bạch Liên (or Nguyễn Thị Thanh), a clerk in the
French Army
; his brother Nguyễn Sinh
Khiêm (or Nguyễn Tất Đạt), a geomancer and