Ho Chi Minh facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ho Chi Minh
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Hồ Chí Minh | |
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Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam | |
In office 19 February 1951 – 2 September 1969 |
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Preceded by | Position created |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam | |
In office 1 November 1956 – 10 September 1960 |
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Preceded by | Trường Chinh |
Succeeded by | Lê Duẩn |
1st President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam | |
In office 2 September 1945 – 2 September 1969 |
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Preceded by | Position established Bảo Đại (as Emperor) |
Succeeded by | Tôn Đức Thắng |
1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam | |
In office 2 September 1945 – 20 September 1955 |
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Preceded by | Position established Trần Trọng Kim (as Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam) |
Succeeded by | Phạm Văn Đồng |
Personal details | |
Born |
Nguyễn Sinh Cung
19 May 1890 Kim Liên, Nghệ An Province, French Indochina |
Died | 2 September 1969 Hanoi, North Vietnam |
(aged 79)
Nationality |
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Political party | French Section of the Workers' International (1919–1921) French Communist Party (1921–1925) ![]() (1925–1969) |
Spouse(s) | none (disputed) |
Relations | Bạch Liên (or Nguyễn Thị Thanh) (Sister) Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm (or Nguyễn Tất Đạt) (brother) (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) (brother) |
Parent(s) | Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (father) Hoàng Thị Loan (mother) |
Alma mater | Communist University of the Toilers of the East |
Profession | Politician |
Hồ Chí Minh, born Nguyễn (a common Vietnamese last name) Sinh Cung, (May 19, 1890 - September 2, 1969) was the leader (Prime Minister from 1945-1955, and President from 1945-1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (later the Socialist Republic of Vietnam).
Contents
Biography
Early life
'Hồ Chí Minh', meaning 'Hồ with the will of light', was not his real name. He took this name around the time of the August Revolution in 1945. His name was Nguyễn Sinh Cung when he was born. At age ten, he changed his name to Nguyễn Tất Thành, according to Confucian tradition. He would later use many 'pseudonyms' (false names). Other than 'Hồ Chí Minh', his most famous name was probably Nguyễn Ái Quốc meaning 'Nguyễn (by far the most common Vietnamese last name) who loves his country'. Vietnamese people commonly refer to him as Bác Hồ (Uncle Hồ).
Nguyễn studied in Paris from 1919-23. In those four years, he started following communism, and began to believe that Vietnam- then a French colony-should be independent. During this time he wrote a letter, which was ignored, to United States President Woodrow Wilson, asking for U.S. military aid to help overthrow the French colonial rulers. He joined the French Communist Party, and started visiting Moscow regularly, as a member of the Asian branch of the Comintern.
Creating an independent Vietnam (War with French)
Hồ led a revolution against the French rulers of Vietnam from 1945-1954. After overthrowing the French, a Communist regime, supported by the Soviet Union and China, was set up in the northern half of the country, with himself leading the country as both President and Prime Minister. A non-Communist government, supported by the United States, was set up in the southern half of the country, because the United States did not want all Vietnam to be Communist. This was because the United States was then fighting the Cold War.

Vietnamese name | |
Vietnamese | Hồ Chí Minh |
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Hán-Nôm | 胡志明 |
Vietnamese birth name | |
Vietnamese | Nguyễn Sinh Cung |
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Hán-Nôm | 阮生恭 |
Vietnam War (with the United States)
When South Vietnam and America did not keep their promise to hold an election and unite the two halves into one country, Hồ led Vietnam into a military and political struggle to bring the rice fields of the South under his Communist rule. Two decades of war followed, killing millions of Vietnamese. The United States supported South Vietnam with military aid, while the Soviet Union (led by Nikita Krushchev and then Leonid Brezhnev) and People's Republic of China (led by Mao Zedong) continued to support North Vietnam's war effort.
In the end, North Vietnam won the war several years after Hồ Chí Minh died.
Death and legacy
Suffering from diabetes and heart problems, Hồ Chí Minh died on the morning of September 2, 1969, of a heart attack.
In his will he said he wished to be cremated and have his ashes be buried in hills in the north, center, and south of Vietnam. After he died however, his followers embalmed his body and put it in a tomb, the mausoleum, where he is still worshipped today.
In 1976, in the style of the Soviet Union, the victorious Communist North renamed the capital of the non-Communist South, Saigon, to Ho Chi Minh City, in honour of their leader.
Images for kids
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House on Memorium for Hồ Chí Minh in Ban Nachok, Nakhon Phanom, Thailand
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Võ Nguyên Giáp (left) with Hồ Chí Minh (right) in Hanoi in 1945
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Hồ Chí Minh with East German sailors in Stralsund harbor during his 1957 visit to East Germany
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Hồ Chí Minh with members of the East German Young Pioneers near Berlin, 1957
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Hồ Chí Minh holding his god-daughter, baby Elizabeth (Babette) Aubrac, with Elizabeth's mother, Lucie, 1946
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Hồ Chí Minh watching a football game in his favorite fashion, with his closest comrade Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng seated to Ho's left (photo right)
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Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi.
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Hồ Chí Minh statue and a yellow star as depicted in the Vietnamese flag
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Hồ Chí Minh statue outside Hồ Chí Minh City Hall, Hồ Chí Minh City
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Hồ Chí Minh bust in Kolkata, India