Myth

• The Vietnam war was a war against communism
• The US was defending democracy in Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh was a war-lord

What would you do if your family, town, or country were under such occupation?

A hundred years ago Vietnam knew such horror, shame since France invaded in 1858. It was into this country that the person later known as Ho Chi Minh was born 19/May/1890. Educated by his father, in 1912 he traveled to France where he worked and joined political groups to push his countries cause. Also visiting the United States during World War I , in 1919 he petitioned at the Versilles Peace Conference for Vietnamese self-determination without any success.

Desperate to find people sympathetic to his country's quest for independance, Ho Chi Minh joined the French Communist Party who in 1920 said they'd help, and in 1922 traveled to Moscow before returning to Vietnam during the 1930's.

In 1940 Nazi germany defeated France, and the French authorities in Vietnam defined themself as part of the AXIS power's "Co-Prosperity Sphere". A pro-Japanese, pro-Nazi government run by Frenchmen side-by-side a Japanese occupation army from 1940 until 1945.

In May 1941 Ho Chi Minh formed a League for Vietnamese Independance, ("Vietminh") dedicated to removing the "Co-Prosperity Sphere" from Vietnam. In this role the Vietnamese people rallied to his speaches and his popularity began to rise. In 1942 Ho mistakenly approached the Chinese in an effort to gain aid for evicting the Japanese but was arrested instead. Released in 1943 Ho now acted upon his earlier hope for an ally in Vietnamese independance - the United States.

Why did Ho hope the United States might aid a pro-independance cause? Though the United States had been an isolationist government, declaring itself neutral in both World Wars; Ho recalled alledgealy core documents for the US people: the US Declaration of Independance the US Pledge of Allegiance Both the spirit of the Declaration & the word of the daily Pledge would obligate its people and therefore its President to wish to aid another people lift the yoke of colonization (be it British, French, or Japanese) from it's neck; or at least would obligate it to shine the light of their media upon it. Even though the US media too had stood as slient guardians of the French occupation of Vietnam for 80 years, new events gave Ho some hope that the US may be turning closer to it's original roots: the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act promissing independance to the US colony of the Philippines in little over a decade; discussions of Guam citizenship and territorial rights when two Guamanian rights activists made their own way to Washington in 1936; in 1937 Roosevelt responded to the Japanese invasion of China with an angry speech against the "aggressor nation"; and finally, the Atlantic Charter.

In the US, the O.S.S. quickly found Ho and his Vietminh a valuable ally and in typically US style quickly arranged a trade where the Vietminh waged a guerrilla war against the Japanese, helped downed pilots or escaping POWs, and most importantly providing intelligence; in exchange the O.S.S. provided munitions and importantly promised to deliver letters from Ho addressed to the US President. Ho, however, became increasingly convinced that his letters were not being read by the President and as time went on became increasingly concerned that the US may not live up to its "Atlantic Charter" committments even though it had re-affirmed these in Cairo.

In 1945 the Vietminh decided to continue guerrilla tractics and conserve man-power in case the Americans and others reneged upon their previous de-colonisation promises and allowed France to attempt to re-occupy Vietnam after the World War.

In August two atomic bombs ended the Japanese regime. On August 17th Bao Dai, the ruler of Vietnam for the Japanese called for a rally in Hanoi by supporters, over a hundred thousand Vietminh supporters came instead. A week later Bao Dai abdicated and on September 2nd Ho Chi Minh addressed Vietnam while quoting the American Declaration of Indpendance and having the band play the US Anthem while he declared Vietnam to be free.

So what went wrong ? First, it appears that Ho's fears were correct and his letters were not being given to the US President as promised for his groups aid. The vital letters that showed Ho's true motives and desire for a US style democracy remain hidden in a Langley file; meanwhile Truman was asked to decide between supporting a country he had never heard of before or supporting the French claim upon it. Without the vital information now held secret by the CIA, Truman chose a course that would cost the lives of many American, Australians, of other ally's, and most of all the lives of Vietnamese people who did not care about government systems as much as that they wanted any foreigners with guns to go away. So instead of supporting a democracy and helping ensure it would have regular elections with free speech and parties; Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy supported a doomed attempt to re-colonize a now armed country; neither the French nor the Japanese puppet Bao Dai were wanted by the people. It was a complete and utter failure to understand what they themselves, the US Presidents, were doing. What is truly tragic is that the CIA was created specificly to prevent such mis-understandings by the US government; but, the CIA instead made no effort to provide that vital background information about Ho to either the Department of State, nor the President to whom it had been addressed. Had the US honored the Atlantic Charter then many thousands of Vietnamese, American, Australia, and other lives would have been saved; Vietnam today would be a democracy; and China would not have any influence inside Vietnam. Instead several things went wrong.

• France decides to re-colonize the Vietnamese.
• The US decided not to honour its committmemt to its Atlantic Charter.
• The US decide to aid France in its efforts to colonize Vietnam.

1. Apr 1945

   Franklin Roosevelt dies leaving Harry Truman in charge

2. Sep 1945

   Ho and colleagues proclaim the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
3. 1946 Ho Chi Minh talks with France about end of French rule in Vietnam

4.     1946

   US rejects the Republic and supports French colonization claims.

5. Nov 1946

   French army shells Haiphong Harbour killing 6,000 starting war.

6.     1950

   US begins subsidizing French efforts to re-instate Boa Dai's regime and French rule

7.     1950

   China begins to support Viet Minh against France

8. Aug 1950

   US Military Assistance Advisory Group arrives in Saigon

9. Jan 1953

   Dwight Eisenhower becomes US President

10. May 1954

    French defeated at Dien Bien Phu

11. Jun 1954

    Bao Dai selects Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister awaiting the French to re-colonize Vietnam for them.

12. Oct 1954

    US President Eisenhower pledges support to Diem's government and military trying to conquror Vietnam.

13.     1955

    Ngo Dihn Diem organises a Republic of Vietnam and declares himself President.