Ho Chi Minh
...icially worked for the Soviet Union after a training, with salary, rank”(3). He continued to serve the Soviet Army for many years, but he eventually left and came back to Vietnam. When Ho came back to Vietnam, he visited Phan Boi Chau, a friend of Ho’s father. Phan Boi Chau taught Ho the way to liberate Vietnam by telling him to go to Japan(4). Since Ho was a famous communist, he had to be protected at everywhere he went. Throughout Ho Chi Minh’s life, he changed his name for each place where he visited because he didn’t want to be arrested by the enemy. The following quote is from Bui Tin’s article “Some Collective Facts About Ho Chi Minh,” which appeared in vietquoc website: Ho’s given name at birth was Nguyen Tat Thanh. He also had another name-Nguyen Van Ba. Ho used this name when he worked as a steward in a ship, the La Touche Treville, on his overseas trip from Saigon to Marseilles, France. He changed back to Nguyen Tat Thach after his arrival in France. Ho has been known by many aliases. His first alias, second well known after Ho Chi Minh, was Nguyen Ai Quoc. This alias was picked by Phan Chu Trinh, a famous patriot, and used as a joint pen-name of four others: Phan Van Truong a lawyer; Nguyen The Truyen, an engineer who married to a princess of Belgium; Nguyen An Ninh, a journalist, and Phan Chu Trinh. However, Ho was the only one that publicly used the name Nguyen Ai Quoc. (1) The Vietnamese Declaration of Independence strongly suggested that France and The United States should not rule Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh pronounced this to warn capitalism to stay away from Vietnam. The declaration was created after Ho Chi Minh and his people helped France defeat Japanese. In the return, Ho Chi Minh wanted North Vietnam to be his land, the communist land. According to Jacquin Sanders, there were two main reasons why Ho Chi Minh wanted France and the United States out of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh stated, “To weaken our race they have forced us to use opium and alcohol. In the field of economics, they have fleeced us to the backbone, impoverished our people, and devastated our land. They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw materials. They have monopolized the issuing of bank notes and the export trade. They have invented numerous unjustifiable taxes and reduced our people, especially our peasantry, to a state of extreme poverty” (291). The “domino theory” caused the United States to enter the Vietnam War. The United States became involved in Vietnam because it believed that if all of the country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. The United States government supported the South Vietnamese government. This government’s repressive policies led to rebellion in the South, and the National Liberation Front was formed as an opposition group with close ties to North Vietnam(Microsoft Encarta Cyclopedia 1). The following quote is from “Vietnam War,” which founded in Microsoft Encarta Cyclopedia: In 1965 the United States sent in troops to prevent the South Vietnamese government from collapsing. Ultimately, however, the United States failed to achieve its goal, and in 1975 Vietnam was reunified under Communist control; in 1976 it officially became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. During the conflict, approximately 3 to 4 million Vietnamese on both sides were killed, in addition to another 1.5 to 2 million Lao and Cambodians who were drawn into the war. More than 58,000 Americans lost their lives. (2) Richard Nixon and his cabinets sent more troops to Vietnam when South Vietnamese collapsed. This caused many American’s families to face against Richard Nixon. According to Sanders, “Every boy must register for the draft within five days after his eighteen birthday. At present only men between the ages of 19 and 26 are actually being drafted, but ‘liability’ for service in the Armed Forces continues for another ten years” (70). The president Richard Nixon received pressure from the mothers of United States service men and women because they wanted their children out of Vietnam. Early in 1965, when the United States had only about twenty thousands men in Vietnam, and monthly draft calls hovered near five thousands. A year later, as the United States commitment soared, the quotas climbed almost to fifty thousands. By the end of 1967, there were about four hundred thousands United States troops in Vietnam (Sanders 22- 23). The most serious Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that took place in the third World. Capitalism fought against Communism. In the early 1970s, the tenor of the Cold War changed. During the first administration of United States president Richard Nixon, The United States and the Soviet Union sought to put their relationship on a different footing. While neither side abandoned its basic positions, the two super powers tried to take the first steps toward controlling the costly nuclear arms race and finding areas for mutually advantageous economic and scientific collaboration (Microsoft Encarta Cyclopedia 3). Richard Nixon was voted to become a second term president because he had a secret plan to treat communist. “Tell it to Hanoi,” which Nixon told his secret plan to the interpreters. His plan was to increase the amount of bombing the North Vietnam, and to reduce the amount of American troops. He also increase the bombing at the borders of Lao and Cambodia. By July of 1972, forty-five and six hundreds American soldiers remained in Vietnam. It was nine percent less of the total in the country when Nixon took over the presidency. In addition, he provided many modern military equipment and money to the South Vietnamese. He turned the Vietnam War to the Vietnamization, which South Vietnam increased their own military forces (Parmet, 593). Richard Nixon wanted to end the Vietnam War as soon as possible; however, he did not want to lose the international position in the world. The following quote is from “The Zigs and the Zags,” which Herbert Parmet stated: As long as the war was going on, the country was divided and not, as Nixon had promised at the outset, brought together. Johnson had considered Vietnam as something to get over with so he could get on with his Great Society. Nixon and Kissinger, although desiring to end the American role, were more concerned about not weakening the nation’s international authority. It was all interrelated. At home, the end of the war meant a chance to p...