Early Life
“Good studies will lift you out of poverty.”
-Placard in Sac’s home. pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu.
-Placard in Sac’s home. pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu.
Born in May 19, 1890, Ho Chi Minh lived under a peasant household. His father, Nguyen Sinh Sac, received Confucian education.
“An ardent nationalist, Ho's father refused to learn French, the language of the conquerors of his country, and joined anti-French secret societies. Young Ho got his first underground experience as his father's messenger in the anti-French network.” -Anden Whitman. The New York Times. Ho aquired both Confucian and French education. His understanding of French culture and fluency in several languages later supported his diplomatic relations.
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He left to France 1911. During his global ventures, he learned of major issues, discrimination, colonization, and political ideals circumventing the world. “Why don’t the French civilize their own people instead of trying to civilize us?” -Ho Chi Minh, during his stay in Marseilles. Ho Chi Minh: North Vietnamese President. |
“Thanh saw clearly the stark difference between theory and practice, and especially how even the most liberal democracies tolerated both racism and colonialism. These experiences led him later to relativize the “dictatorship of the proletariat” and, by consequence, the Stalinist regime.”
-Pierre Brocheux on Ho's experiences that influenced him. Ho Chi Minh: A Biography.
His curious, humble and charismatic personality followed him throughout his educational and political career. "He was thirsty for knowledge, and spent all of his free time on board reading, writing, working on his French, and learning English, while his friends spent their time sleeping, playing cards, or getting drunk." -Pierre Brocheux on Ho's personality. Ho Chi Minh: A Biography. |
“... I noticed this thin, almost anemic indigene in the rear. He had a Chaplinesque aura about him-simultaneously sad and comic, vous saves... I grew more and more affectionate toward him. He was tres sympathique-reserved but not shy, intense but not fanatical, and extremely clever. I especially liked his ironic way of deprecating everything while, at the same time, deprecating himself.”
-Leo Poldes, founder of the debate group Club du Faubourg. Paris in the Fifties.
(Embedded from and created by 14sthacker in History)