Ho Chi Minh Thesis

Ho Chi Minh: A Dark Side of a Nationalist
Thesis Statement
Ho Chi Minh - a figure of controversy – a patriot who devoted his life for the cause to liberate his nation, leading his country to independence and unification; but at the same time, a tyrant who, to achieve his goal, blindly followed the communism to massacre thousands of innocent people in the cruel land reform, dragging millions of his people to the deadly prolong war under the name of nationalism.
Bibliography
1) Osborne, Milton. Ho Chi Minh. History Today, Nov 1980, Vol. 30 Issue 11, p40-46. 7p. 7 Black and White Photographs. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=048ccae0-c6bf-4e58-9fe1-6ab0e0a26714%40sessionmgr4008&hid=4104
2) Rummel R.J. Table 6.1B
Under the pressure and guidance from China and Soviet Union, Ho implemented the land reform, nationalizing the land ownership, eliminating the capitalist class in Vietnam. The implementation of the land reform, starting from early 1950 to 1956, was the massacre of thousands of innocent people. Bernard B. Fall, a prominent war correspondent, historian, political scientist, “stressed the Machiavellian and violent character of the regime”. “Fall wrote in The Two Vietnams that “the best-educated guesses on the subject are that probably close to 50,000 North Vietnamese were executed in connection with the land reform and that at least twice as many were arrested and sent to forced labor camps” (Vo:
President Ho of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam continued to lead the country in the 9-year war to reclaim Southern Vietnam from French, and the next 20-year civil war to overthrow the Vietnam South regime and its supporter – the American force - to unify Vietnam as one whole independent nation. We will never know how soon the civil war would have ended should the cold war between America and Soviet Union had never been present. Southern Vietnam, with the support of America force, refused to comply with the Geneva Agreement (1954) on a national election; built up its own military force and its own capitalist regime.
Ho Chi Minh, “an aggressor … a hard-cord communist” (Catino:1), with financial and military support from Soviet Union and China, threw his country under the war between super powers, engaged his people in a deadly civil war. To fight the most modern and most powerful army force of the United States, Ho used the people’s war tactic and never compromise on 2 separated regimes of Vietnam. Ho never considered the death of 3 million lives through the 20-year civil war (Rummel: Table