Vietnam and The First Half of the 20th Century

WWI, WWII, and Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh

• Mandarin, but no room for a non-puppet Mandarin in French-controlled Vietnam

• French educated– Impressed by the French

philosophes– George Carpentier boxing story

• And yet… sees the ‘mission civilatrice’ for the sham that it is [rickshaw political cartoon]

WWI• clash of imperial western powers• Extremely bloody…think about the

weapons of the Industrial Revolution• Russian Communist Revolution• Any clash between imperialist powers will

be riveting to the imperialized

U.S. and WWI

• Joined late and reluctantly• “We have no selfish ends to serve,”

said President Wilson. Instead we fight a war “…to make the world safe for democracy,”… a “war to end wars.”

• Relatively few U.S. soldiers died, but our forces and our supplies turned the tide and end the war.

• U.S. was increasingly scene as the ‘arsenal of democracy’

• U.S. was increasingly seen as a first-rate world power

President Woodrow Wilson’s ‘Grand Vision’ for the End of the War

• The Fourteen Points– Attempted to prevent future war

by removing the factors that caused WWI

• One of Wilson’s central ideas was ‘Self-determination’– Ethnic groups should be free to

chart their own political structure

For example…

Ho Chi Minh at Versailles

Your ‘self-determination’ stuff is SOOO

right on!!! Please don’t forget the Vietnamese!!!!

I couldn’t agree more… I… hey…you aren’t

European…hey…why are why are these flags

covering my mouth…

He attempted to give a message about Vietnam to Wilson. Not

successful.

•Wilson didn’t mean Africa and Asia. He was racist. Even if he had wanted to include them, the French and British rejected Asian and African self-determination…

Why?

Ho’s Attempt Made Him Famous in Vietnam

He was also a poet and writer.

“Ho’s collected writings would fill twelve volumes of some 600 pages each”

The French and British rejected self-determination outside of Europe,

pushing instead the ‘Mandate System’

Umm.. Yes… (giggle)… you can be independent…

(chuckle)… just, wait until.... (snort)… you are ready… (ah, hah…hah…hah..hah… I kill myself)

Asshole!

Thus, Ho embraced Communism and traveled widely in the Soviet Union and China

Why Communism?

- Lenin and Many Communists Were Publicly Anti-Imperialist

- Ho Chi Minh Adopted Lenin’s Dictum: “Revolution only when the time is right”

- When was the time right for

Lenin???

WWII

• Seeds were sown in the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI…

• France’s terrible punishment of Germany was avenged by Hitler…Maginot line…same train…

• Vichy France– (do we see the importance here for Vietnam!?)

Japan Has Imperial Hopes

• Eyes wealth of loosely guarded Indochina• Japan’s only real threat in Pacific is…

– The U.S.

• Pearl Harbor• Japanese smashed Vichy in Vietnam• ‘White man’s aura’ was destroyed in

Vietnam• Ho reentered Vietnam

Before His Death, FDR Spoke of His Support for Independence in Indochina

• “The French have had this land for over one hundred years and the people are no better off for it.”

• However, this was not to be…

After Early Setbacks, U.S. Slowly Destroyed Japan in the Pacific

Ho was still open to working with America In return for weapons and training from the

O.S.S. (earlier version of CIA), Ho rescued downed American pilots and provided information on Japanese troop movements

O.S.S. documents saw Ho as a ‘nationalist first’

– Ho himself said this many times Many Asian nationalists sided with the

Japanese… However, Ho didn’t want to ‘kick the lion

out the front door, but _______________’

Don’t try it, bub!

U.S. Dropped Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima

• Japanese surrendered• Ho, national hero in Vietnam, held a rally in

Vietnam and declared Vietnamese independence

• He chose his wording darn carefully!!!

• Who was Ho appealing to with this wording?

Ho Chi Minh's Speech, Ba Dinh Square, September 2, 1945 

"All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certainunalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit ofHappiness.“ This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.

The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the citizen also states: "All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights."These are undeniable truths.

Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing thestandard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity And justice. In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty. They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center, and the South of Viet-Nam in order to wreck ournational unity and prevent our people from being united.