HO CHI MINH

born May 19, 1890, Hoang Tru, Vietnam, French Indochina died Sept. 2, 1969, Hanoi, Vietnam Ho Chi Minh, 1968 original name Nguyen Sinh Cung, also called Nguyen Tat Thanh, or Nguyen Ai Quoc founder of the Indochina Communist Party (1930) and its successor, the Viet-Minh (1941), and president from 1945 to 1969 of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). As the leader of the Vietnamese nationalist movement for nearly three decades, Ho was one of the prime movers of the post-World War II anticolonial movement in Asia and one of the most influential communist leaders of the 20th century. Additional reading General biographies include Jean Lacouture, Ho Chi Minh (1968); and David Halberstam, Ho (1971, reissued 1987). N. Khac Huyen, Vision Accomplished? The Enigma of Ho Chi Minh (1971), is more scholarly. Jean Sainteny, Ho Chi Minh and His Vietnam (1972), is a personal memoir of a French diplomat who was Ho's friend. The Committee for the Study of the History of the Vietnamese Worker's Party has compiled an English-language book, Our President Ho Chi Minh (1970). A later official work published in Vietnam is Uncle Ho (1980). See also Reinhold Neumann-Hoditz, Portrait of Ho Chi Minh: An Illustrated Biography (1972), a factual study with emphasis on the historical background; and Charles Fenn, Ho Chi Minh (1973), a concise but detailed and analytical biography.