Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh, originally Nguyen Ai Quoc, was born on 19th May, 1890 in Hoang Tru. The peasant boy became later the first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The way is, however, far, very far to that point.
He studied in Hue from 1895, at the age of 18 he was notable for his political spirit. In 1908, he participated a demonstration in connection with taxation, for this reason, he was dismissed. From that time onward he taught and travelled. In 1911 he got a job on a French ship in Saigon and worked there under the name of Van Ba. As you see, he didn't use his original name as neither many times in his life. Here are some examples of his numerous names: Nguyen Sinh Cung, Nguyen Tat Thanh, Van Ba, Chen Vang - in China, Li Nop - in the Soviet Union, Ly Thuy - in Thailand. He only used his name at the Communist Party of Indochina.
After he touched land at France, he went on working as a sailorman and visited many countries, like the UK, the USA, and many European and African countries. He tried out many trade as well. He got in connection with the working-class movement in Paris and he became a member of the French Communist Party from 1920, the time of its formation. Many articles in "Le Paria" (The Poor) and "L'Humanité" (The Humanity) was written by him, which uncovered the colonialism of the French in Indochina. His aim was to form a Communist party in Indochina. In 1924, he went to Kanton (China) where he founded the first revolutionary organization of Vietnamese emigrants. in 1930, by his initiative, the Communist Party of Indochina was established. A year later the English arrested him in Hong Kong and kept him in prison for two years.
In 1935, he participated the VII. Congress of the Communist Internationale (he was at the fifth, in 1924 in Moscow, too), and helped the Communist Parties to work out a unified politics. He was one of the founder member of the Vietnamese Democratic Independent League (Viet Minh) and directed the war of liberation against Japanese invaders. In August, 1942 he adopted the Ho Chi Minh name. During his one-year imprisonment in China, he wrote his famous Prison-diary that contains 133 poems. As the result of uprising against the Japanese in August, 1945, he was elected to be the president of the caretaker government, which was established in 25th August with a majority of 98.4%. In 2nd September, 1946, he became the President of the newly proclaimed DRV.
Until the victory in Dien Bien Phu in 1954, he was the leader of the war of independence against the French. He supported the partisan warfare for the united Vietnam. In 1963, he was offered the Yellow Star Order, but he refused to accept it. "This country is united, North and South is a nation. I will accept it when South is free." He believed in the union of Vietnam and he was devoted to his guidelines until his death in 2nd September, 1969.
The president died in heart attack. He was very popular. After the conquer of Saigon, the Vietnamese renamed Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. The date of his death is still a holiday in Vietnam now. The UNESCO admitted him as a cultural individual, and a mausoleum was built in memory of Ho Chi Minh.