What is Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnamese?

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To me, Ho Chi Minh would be the only communist besides Che Guevara whom I truly respect as a reasonable nationalist leader. I knew that he was not the kind of some communist psychos like Stalin, Pol Pot, or Kim Jong Il when I read his quote "It was patriotism, not communist, that inspired me." I also learned that he admired Thomas Jefferson for his political attitude and once sought to cooperate with the US until it ignored him due to its friend, France. What is Ho Chi Mihn to the Vietnamese? Do you people consider him as a God or a friendly grandpa or something like that? Do even young Vietnamese still respect him the most?

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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 Minh鈥檚 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.

It鈥檚 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 Vietnam鈥檚 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 Vietnam鈥檚 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 don鈥檛 cause wars. Politicians and governments cause wars and send soldiers to die in them. Honor your veterans and leave the ridicule to politicians. Source(s): Studied Vietnam and the Vietnam War since I was a kid. Lots of family and a wife living in Vietnam and as Viet Kieu.
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yes. I love him. And I'm not the only young one
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.
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.
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
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