Ho Chi Minh President
Hồ Chí Minh (Vietnamese pronunciation: [hô̤ tɕǐmɪŋ] ( listen), Chữ Nôm: 胡志明), born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc (19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969) was a Vietnamese Marxist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and led the Việt cộng during the Vietnam War until his death.
Hồ led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Điện Biên Phủ. He lost political power in 1955—when he was replaced as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam—but remained the highly visible figurehead of North Vietnam—through the Presidency—until his death. The capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, after the Fall of Saigon, was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City in honor of the communist leader.
Early life
Nguyễn Sinh Cung (阮生恭) was born in 1890 in Hoàng Trù Village, Vietnam, his mother’s hometown. From 1895, he grew up in his paternal hometown of Kim Liên Village, Nam Đàn District, Nghệ An Province, Vietnam. 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 traditional herbalist; and another brother (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) who died in his infancy. As a young child, Minh studied with his father before more formal classes with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. Cung quickly mastered Chinese writing, a requisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colloquial Vietnamese writing.[1] In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, loved to fly kites and go fishing.[1] Following Confucian tradition, at the age of 10, his father gave him a new name: Nguyễn Tất Thành (阮必成) “Nguyễn the Accomplished”.
Cung’s father, Nguyễn Sinh Sắc, was a Confucian scholar, a teacher on a small
Hồ led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Điện Biên Phủ. He lost political power in 1955—when he was replaced as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam—but remained the highly visible figurehead of North Vietnam—through the Presidency—until his death. The capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, after the Fall of Saigon, was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City in honor of the communist leader.
Early life
Nguyễn Sinh Cung (阮生恭) was born in 1890 in Hoàng Trù Village, Vietnam, his mother’s hometown. From 1895, he grew up in his paternal hometown of Kim Liên Village, Nam Đàn District, Nghệ An Province, Vietnam. 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 traditional herbalist; and another brother (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) who died in his infancy. As a young child, Minh studied with his father before more formal classes with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. Cung quickly mastered Chinese writing, a requisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colloquial Vietnamese writing.[1] In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, loved to fly kites and go fishing.[1] Following Confucian tradition, at the age of 10, his father gave him a new name: Nguyễn Tất Thành (阮必成) “Nguyễn the Accomplished”.
Cung’s father, Nguyễn Sinh Sắc, was a Confucian scholar, a teacher on a small