What is Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnamese?

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MojaveDan

I have family from North and South Vietnam as well as those who are Viet Kieu (foreign living Vietnamese). Ho Chi Minh is seen differently from these three Vietnamese perspectives.

My wife, family-in-laws and direct families in North Vietnam have the highest honor and respect for Ho Chi Minh. They consider him among the greatest of all Vietnamese. If you truly know how communism controls the masses, then you would better understand why the North Vietnamese would think this way. Communism doesn't have to hold a gun to your head and force your beliefs. Rather, the communists take the choices of what you could believe away so you only know one thing to believe. Most of the post war generation Vietnamese in all parts of Vietnam think pretty much the same as those in North Vietnam concerning Ho Chi Minh.

My family in South Vietnam has mixed feelings about Ho Chi Minh. Most them perceive him like my North Vietnamese family does. However, all of my elderly South Vietnamese family hated him. They knew Ho Chi Minh personally and he tried to kill my whole family before they escaped to South Vietnam. Needless to say, they are not likely to change their opinion about Ho Chi Minh.

All of my elder Viet Kieu family who were refugees after the Vietnam War hated Ho Chi Minh and have no respect for him at all. Many of them were in the same situation as my elders in South Vietnam by almost being killed by him. They blame Ho Chi Minh and the communists for the killings and devastation of Vietnam after the War ended.

My studies of Vietnam and the Vietnam War indicate to me that Ho Chi Minhâ€™s made some incredible achievements that are certainly worthy of recognition in any history book. However, he also did some very bad things in his life. Then again, so did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (both were slave owners and Jefferson fathered several children through his enslaved women). History books have a tendency to let heroics and accomplishments outshine the bad things a person may have done in their life.

Ho Chi Minh was very much a communist and copied much of how Stalin lead the Soviet Union in leading North Vietnam. Like Stalin, he dealt with opposition by killing many of those who opposed him. Ho Chi Minh also killed many who were very close to him that could uncover his checkered past. Pol Pot and both Kim Jongs were more communist dictators than wanting the betterment of their country, which make them distinctly different from Ho Chi Minh.

Itâ€™s true that Ho Chi Minh admired Thomas Jefferson and he was a friend to the U.S. at one time. Ho Chi Minh wrote and Vietnamâ€™s declaration of independence after World War II, which depicts the U.S. and the U.S. constitution several times. Also, he recited the declaration with the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background.

My personal opinion of Ho Chi Minh is neutral. I neither like nor dislike him. I do respect his great accomplishments and acknowledge that he is an important figure in Vietnamâ€™s incredible history that spans thousands of years.

Re: Additional Information
Both North and South Koreans participated in the Vietnam War, and those Koreans who participated should not be chastised as unreasonable Koreans. Soldiers donâ€™t cause wars. Politicians and governments cause wars and send soldiers to die in them. Honor your veterans and leave the ridicule to politicians.

trojan_glory

ho chi minh to me is a traitor,,,he sold the whole vietnam to international communistm party.he is a bastard and stupid small town jerk who listen to lenin and all other communistm leader to create some kind of a regime make my people suffer and broken my vietnamese people heart from north,central to south,i will never praise him,i hate him more than hitler,mussolini,and japanese nazi and all ******** communistm leader,i lost my saigon and my vietnam 1975,to me that april/30 my vietnam was dead,my saigon was gone,communistm make many generations of my country suffer so bad,our child hood we have never enjoy teenage time but only a bad memory,we just suffer under vietcong regime using ion fist,long story thought,but to me SAIGON always is the pearl of oriental,my SAIGON will never be hochiminh city, suc*ker betrayal vietnamese people make vietnam country got lost far behind the whole world if you know what i mean,we used to be the best in ASIA,now look at us,where do we stand?vietnam is a poorest in southeast ASIA?i am so sad and pity for those people who still stuck inside country and for many years to come,i wish some day vietong regime will fall like eastern euro communist countries,so my people once again live in peace and rebuild my country image again,!

azza

I noticed that many of the Vietnamese people truly see him as a national hero. As one Vietnamese man said to me: "We dont like the communists, but we love Ho Chi Minh."

Regardless of anyone's thoughts on his political persuasion, it cannot be disputed that he was a patriot who rescued Vietnam from the control of foriegn powers.

SÏ…$Î¹Ñ”

Some Vietnamese (outside Vietnam) hate Ho Chi Minh, they think he's evil and hate him very very much because he created communist in Vietnam

kkxixpox

Vietnamese people oversea [from france, US] hate him, he's a communist to them
to Vietnamese people in Vietnam, they respect him, actually, they teach students, people to respect him at school, say about how great he is and all, hes god
but to the "boat people", he's just a biggest communist ever, and mean, and immoral

ann_hehe

yes. I love him. And I'm not the only young one

calib_forever

It all depends on whom you ask. Some revere him while others curse him. He's a hero to some and villain to others. Most Vietnamese, especially the older generation, outside VN don't think highly of him. To them, HCM is bad news. The Viets inside VN, after years of propaganda and without free speech, praise him.

NONAME

nICE CITY

Good leaders such as Jefferson are accepted as leaders. The fact Ho Chi Minh had to fight with his own people for the right to lead means he is not a great leader, but a tyrant. The US was not the only people to fight against him. Many were his own countrymen, other vietnamese.

c0okie's m0m

Vietnamese people abroad do not respect HCM. They refuse to refer to Ho Chi Minh City by that name because it will always be Saigon to them.

Vietnamese people living in Vietnam are denied their freedom of speech by the Communists so they are not allowed to think otherwise about the man who brought Communism to the country.

If Communism was a such good thing, then the country's economics would be thriving. Children would not have to peddle goods on the streets for spare change.

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