A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist, and were often located in or near temples. This term may refer to other religious structures in some countries. In Vietnam, ''pagoda'' is a more generic term referring to a place of worship, although ''pagoda'' is not an accurate word to describe a Buddhist temple. The modern pagoda is an evolution of the Ancient Nepal stupa, a tomb-like structure where sacred relics could be kept safe and venerated. The architectural structure of the stupa has spread across Asia, taking on many diverse forms as details specific to different regions are incorporated into the overall design.

Terms

The word is first attested for in English in the period c. 1625–35; introduced from the Portuguese ''pagode'', temple, from the Persian ''butkada'' (''but'' idol + ''kada'' temple, dwelling.) Another etymology, found in many English language dictionaries, is modern English ''pagoda'' from Portuguese (via Dravidian), from Sanskrit ''bhagavati'', feminine of ''bhagavatt'' "blessed" < ''bhaga'' "good fortune."

History

The origin of the pagoda can be traced to the Nepalese stupa (3rd century BC).Pagoda style temples were introduced in Nepal during the Lichhavi rule. The stupa, a dome shaped monument, was used in Nepal as a commemorative monument associated with storing sacred relics. The stupa emerged as a distinctive style of Nepalese architecture and was adopted in Southeast and East Asia, where it became prominent as a Buddhist monument used for enshrining sacred relics. In East Asia, the architecture of Chinese towers and Chinese pavilions blended into pagoda architecture, eventually also spreading to Southeast Asia. The pagoda's original purpose was to house relics and sacred writings. This purpose was popularized due to the efforts of Buddhist missionaries, pilgrims, rulers, and ordinary devotees to seek out, distribute, and extol Buddhist relics.

Symbolism

Chinese iconography is noticeable in Chinese pagoda as well as other East Asian pagoda architectures. The image of the Shakyamuni Buddha in the ''abhaya mudra'' is also noticeable in some Pagodas. Buddhist iconography can be observed throughout the pagoda symbolism.

In an article on Buddhist elements in Han art, Wu Hung suggests that in these tombs, Buddhist iconography was so well incorporated into native Chinese traditions that a unique system of symbolism had been developed.

Architecture

Pagodas attract lightning strikes because of their height. This tendency may have played a role in their perception as spiritually charged places. Many pagodas have a decorated finial at the top of the structure. The finial is designed in such a way as to have symbolic meaning within Buddhism; for example, it may include designs representing a lotus. The finial also functions as a lightning rod, and thus helps to both attract lightning and protect the pagoda from lightning damage. Early pagodas were constructed out of wood, but steadily progressed to sturdier materials, which helped protect against fires and rot.

Pagodas traditionally have an odd number of levels, a notable exception being the eighteenth century pagoda "folly" designed by Sir William Chambers at Kew Gardens in London.

Some notable pagodas

Beisi Pagoda at Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, built in 1162.

Chùa Một Cột- One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi, Vietnam, is an icon of Vietnamese culture.

Dabotap on Bulguksa, Gyeongju, Korea, built in 751.

Daqin Pagoda in China, built in 640 by early Christians.

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, built in Xi'an, China in 652

Global Pagoda, the largest unsupported domed stone structure in the world.

Hōryū-ji, Ikaruga, Nara, Japan, built in 7th century.

Huqiu Tower, built in 961 outside of Suzhou, China

Hwangnyongsa Wooden nine-story pagoda on Hwangnyongsa, Gyeongju, Korea, built in 645.

Ichijō-ji, Kasai, Hyōgo, Japan, built in 1171.

Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng, built in 1049 AD, during the Song Dynasty.

Liaodi Pagoda of Dingzhou, built in 1055 AD during the Song Dynasty

Liuhe Pagoda of Hangzhou, built in 1165 AD, during the Song Dynasty.

Lingxiao Pagoda at Zhengding, Hebei, China, built in 1045.

Mingun Pahtodawgyi, a monumental uncompleted stupa began by King Bodawpaya in 1790. If completed, it would be the largest in the world at 150 meters.

Miruksa Temple Pagoda at Iksan, Korea, built in the early 7th century.

Nyatapola at Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley built during 1701-1702 AD.

Pagoda of Fugong Temple, built in 1056 in Ying County, Shanxi, China.

Changzhou Tianning Baota, the highest pagoda in the world since its completion in April 2007, stands at 153.7m in height.

Palsangjeon, a five story pagoda at Beopjusa, Korea built in 553

Pha That Luang, the holiest wat, pagoda, and stupa in Laos, in Vientiane

Phra Pathom Chedi the highest pagoda or stupa in the world Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

Pizhi Pagoda of Lingyan Temple, Shandong, China, 11th century.

The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, a wonder of the medieval world in Nanjing, China.

Shwedagon Pagoda, a gilded pagoda and stupa located in Yangon, Burma. It is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda for the Burmese with relics of the past four Buddhas enshrined within.

Shwezigon Pagoda in Nyaung Oo, Burma. Completed during the reign of King Kyanzittha in 1102, it is a prototype of Burmese stupas.

Small Wild Goose Pagoda, built in Xi'an, China in 709.

Songyue Pagoda on Mount Song, Henan, China, built in 523.

Seokgatap on Bulguksa, Gyeongju, Korea, built in 751.

Thien Mu Pagoda, in Hue, Vietnam, built in 1601.

Tō-ji, the tallest wooden structure in Kyoto, Japan, built in 1644.

Tran Quoc Pagoda, Ha Noi, Vietnam.

Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda in Ping Shan, Hong Kong.

Uppatasanti Pagoda, a 325 feet tall landmark in the Burmese capital of Naypyitaw which houses a Buddha tooth relic.

Xumi Pagoda at Zhengding, Hebei, China, built in 636.

Structures that invoke pagoda architecture: The Bombardier Pagoda, or Pagoda Tower, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This 13-story pagoda, used as the control tower for races such as the Indy 500, has been transformed several times since it was first built in 1913.

Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, built between 1994-1999.

Taipei 101 in Taiwan, record setter for height (508m) in 2004 and currently the world's second tallest completed building.

Other Uses:

Mercedes-Benz W113, nicknamed ''Pagoda'' for its concave hard top roof line. Included are the 1964-1971 230SL, 250SL, and 280SL sport coupes.

See also

Architecture of the Song Dynasty

Chinese architecture

Chinese pagodas

Tō – Japanese pagodas

Chaitya

Cetiya

Stupa

Notes

References

T''he Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture''. John Kieschnick. Published 2003. Princeton University Press . ISBN 0-691-09676-7.

''A World History of Architecture''. Michael W. Fazio, Marian Moffett, Lawrence Wodehouse. Published 2003. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0-07-141751-6.

''Psycho-cosmic symbolism of the Buddhist stupa''. A.B. Govinda. 1976, Emeryville, California. Dharma Publications.

External links

Oriental architecture.com

Culzean Pagoda (Monkey House) - the only stone built pagoda in Britain

Why so few Japanese pagodas have ever fallen down (The Economist)

Category:Persian loanwords Category:Newar Category:Chinese architectural history

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Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
birthname	Michael Carmen Pitt
birth date	April 10, 1981
birth place	West Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
occupation	Actor Musician
yearsactive	1998–present
homepage	}}

Michael Carmen Pitt (born April 10, 1981) is an American actor and musician. Pitt is best known in film for his role in Bernardo Bertolucci's ''The Dreamers'', and in television for his portrayal of James "Jimmy" Darmody in the hit HBO series ''Boardwalk Empire''.

Personal life

Pitt was born in West Orange, New Jersey, the youngest of four children. At age ten, he announced to his parents that he wished to become an actor. He moved to New York City when he was 16 years old, where he took a job as a bike messenger.

Career

In 1999, Pitt made his off-Broadway debut in the play ''The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek'' at the New York Theatre Workshop. A casting agent, whom Pitt mistook as a police officer attempting to arrest him, noticed him and recommended him for a guest role on the television series ''Dawson's Creek'' (he played Henry Parker in 15 episodes between 1999 and 2000). His breakout role as the lover of a transgendered rock star in ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' in 2001 led to supporting roles in ''Bully'' and in mainstream Hollywood fare such as ''Murder by Numbers'' and ''The Village'', as well as the lead in Bernardo Bertolucci's ''The Dreamers''.

He next appeared in Asia Argento's ''The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things'', and headlined Gus Van Sant's ''Last Days'', playing a rock star based on Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. He performed all of the songs, which closely resembled Cobain's guitar and singing styles. On set, he met Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, who had been hired by Van Sant to serve as the film's music consultant. The pair formed a close bond, with Moore writing, "[Gus] wanted me to hang out with Michael and talk about his character, and let him be in character. We ended up spending a lot of time together. My daughter Coco still relates to Michael as Blake from Last Days."

In 2007, he starred opposite Keira Knightley in ''Silk'', adapted from the novel by Alessandro Baricco. He played the lead role of Hervé Joncour, a French silkworm smuggler who falls in love with a baron's concubine while in Japan. The same year, he starred in the romantic comedy ''Delirious'' as a young homeless man who befriends a celebrity photographer played by Steve Buscemi and falls in love with a pop singer (Alison Lohman). The movie appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. His more recent films include ''Funny Games'', Michael Haneke's remake of his own 1997 film, alongside Tim Roth and Naomi Watts. Pitt also stars in the crime drama ''Pericle il Nero'', released in 2009.

Pitt sings and plays guitar in his band Pagoda, whose self-titled debut album has been released by Universal/Fontana/Ecstatic Peace. With the Twins of Evil, he performed "Hey Joe," which can be heard in ''The Dreamers''.

He co-stars in the HBO series ''Boardwalk Empire'' with his ''Delirious'' co-star Steve Buscemi, about the rise of Atlantic City during the Prohibition era.

Filmography

{|class=" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan="2"|1998 |''Hi-Life'' |Boy Teen | |- |''54'' |Dance Student |(uncredited) |- |1999 |''Even Housewives in Minnesota Have Those Daydreams'' |Petey | |- |2000 |''Finding Forrester'' |John Coleridge | |- |rowspan="3"|2001 |''Bully'' |Donny Semenec | |- |''The Yellow Bird'' |Stuff | |- |''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' |Tommy Gnosis | |- |2002 |''Murder by Numbers'' |Justin Pendleton | |- |rowspan="4"|2003 |''Wonderland'' |Gopher |(scenes deleted) |- |''Rhinoceros Eyes'' |Chep | |- |''Law and Order: SVU'' |Harry Baker |episode 3.13 "Prodigy" | |- |''The Dreamers'' |Matthew | |- |rowspan="3"| 2004 |''The Village'' |Finton Coin | |- |''The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things'' |Buddy | |- |''Jailbait'' |Randy | |- |2005 |''Last Days'' |Blake | |- |rowspan="2"| 2006 |''Delirious'' |Toby Grace | |- |''The Hawk Is Dying'' |Fred | |- | 2007 |''Silk'' |Hervé Joncour | |- |rowspan="3"|2008 |''T Takes'' |The Guest in Room 113 |Web series |- |''Pericle il Nero'' |Frank White | |- |''Funny Games'' |Paul (aka, Jerry and Butthead) |- |2010 |''Boardwalk Empire'' |James 'Jimmy' Darmody |Award Winning Drama Series |- |2011 |''Pinkville'' |Lt. William Calley |(pre-production) |}

References

External links

http://pagodapagoda.com/

Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Actors from New York Category:American film actors Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from New York City Category:People from West Orange, New Jersey Category:1981 births Category:Living people

cs:Michael Pitt de:Michael Pitt es:Michael Pitt fa:مایکل پیت fr:Michael Pitt he:מייקל פיט id:Michael Pitt it:Michael Pitt nl:Michael Pitt ja:マイケル・ピット pl:Michael Pitt pt:Michael Pitt ru:Питт, Майкл sv:Michael Pitt

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	Hồ Chí Minh
nationality	Vietnamese
birth date	May 19, 1890
birth place	Nghệ An Province, French Indochina
death date	September 02, 1969
death place	Hanoi, Democratic Republic of Vietnam
order	Chairman of the Workers' Party of Vietnam
term start	19 February 1951
term end	2 September 1969
predecessor	Position established
successor	Post abolished
order2	First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam
term start2	1 November 1956
term end2	10 September 1960
predecessor2	Trường Chinh
successor2	Lê Duẩn
order3	President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
term start3	2 September 1945
term end3	2 September 1969
predecessor3	Position established
successor3	Tôn Đức Thắng
order4	Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
term start4	2 September 1945
term end4	20 September 1955
predecessor4	Position established
successor4	Phạm Văn Đồng
party	Workers’ Party of Vietnam
signature	Ho Chi Minh Signature.svg }}

Hồ Chí Minh (), born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc (19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969) was a Vietnamese Marxist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, as well as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Vietcong during the Vietnam War until his death in 1969.

Hồ led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Điện Biên Phủ. He lost political power in 1955—when he was replaced as prime minister—but remained the highly visible figurehead of North Vietnam—through the presidency—until his death. The capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, after the Fall of Saigon, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.

Early life

Nguyễn Sinh Cung was born in 1890 in Hoàng Trù Village, Vietnam, his mother’s hometown. From 1895, he grew up in his paternal hometown of Kim Liên Village, Nam Đàn District, Nghệ An Province, Vietnam. He had three siblings: his sister Bạch Liên (or Nguyễn Thị Thanh), a clerk in the French Army; his brother Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm (or Nguyễn Tất Đạt), a geomancer and traditional herbalist; and another brother (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) who died in his infancy. As a young child, Cung studied with his father before more formal classes with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. Cung quickly mastered Chinese writing, a requisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colloquial Vietnamese writing. In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, loved to fly kites and go fishing. In deference to his father, Cung received a French education, attended lycée in Huế, the ''alma mater'' of his later disciples, Phạm Văn Đồng and Võ Nguyên Giáp. He later left his studies and chose to teach at Dục Thanh school in Phan Thiết.

In the USA

In 1912, working as the cook’s helper on a ship, Cung traveled to the United States. From 1912 to 1913, he lived in New York (Harlem) and Boston, where he worked as a baker at the Parker House Hotel. Among a series of menial jobs, he also has claimed to have worked for a wealthy family in Brooklyn between 1917 and 1918. During this time, he was influenced by Marcus Garvey in Harlem. It is believed that, while in the United States, he made contact with Korean nationalists, an experience that developed his political outlook.

In England

At various points between 1913 and 1919, Cung lived in West Ealing, west London, and later in Crouch End, Hornsey, north London. He is reported to have worked as a chef at the Drayton Court Hotel, on The Avenue, West Ealing. It is claimed that Ho trained as a pastry chef under the legendary French master, Escoffier, at the Carlton Hotel in the Haymarket, Westminster, but there is no evidence to support this. However, the wall of New Zealand House, home of the New Zealand High Commission, which now stands on the site of the Carlton Hotel, displays a blue plaque, stating that Cung worked there in 1913 as a waiter.

Political education in France

From 1919–1923, while living in France, Nguyễn Sinh Cung embraced communism, through his friend and Socialist Party of France comrade Marcel Cachin. Cung claimed to have arrived in Paris from London in 1917, but French police only have documents of his arrival in June 1919.

Following World War I, under the name of Nguyễn Ái Quốc (“Nguyễn the Patriot”), he petitioned for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks, but was ignored. Citing the language and the spirit of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Nguyễn petitioned U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for help to remove the French from Vietnam and replace them with a new, nationalist government. While he was unable to obtain consideration at Versailles, the failed effort had the effect of further radicalizing Nguyễn, while at the same time making him a national hero of the anti-colonial movement at home in Viet Nam.

In 1920, during the Congress of Tours, in France, Nguyễn Ái Quốc became a founding member of the ''Parti Communiste Français'' (French Communist Party)(PCF) and spent much of his time in Moscow afterwards, becoming the Comintern’s Asia hand and the principal theorist on colonial warfare. During the Indochina War, the PCF would be involved with anti-war propaganda, sabotage and support for the revolutionary effort.

In May 1922, Nguyễn wrote an article for a French magazine criticizing the use of English words by French sportswriters. The article implores Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré to outlaw such Franglais as ''le manager'', ''le round'' and ''le knock-out''. While living in Paris, he had a relationship with dressmaker Marie Brière.

In the Soviet Union and China

In 1923, Nguyễn left Paris for Moscow, where he was employed by the Comintern, studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, and participated in the Fifth Comintern Congress in June 1924, before arriving in Canton (present-day Guangzhou), China, in November 1924. In June 1925, Hoàng Văn Chí said that Nguyễn had betrayed Phan Bội Châu, the head of a rival revolutionary faction, to French police in Shanghai for 100,000 piastres. Hồ later claimed that he did this because he expected Chau’s trial to stir up anti-French resentment and because he needed the money to establish a communist organization. But in ''Ho Chi Minh: A life'', Duikers denied this hypothesis. Châu never denounced Nguyễn.

During 1925-26 he organized 'Youth Education Classes' and occasionally gave lectures at the Whampoa Military Academy on the revolutionary movement in Indochina. He married a Chinese woman, Tăng Tuyết Minh (Zeng Xueming), on 18 October 1926. When his comrades objected to the match, he told them, “I will get married despite your disapproval because I need a woman to teach me the language and keep house.” She was 21 and he was 36. They married in the same place where Zhou Enlai had married earlier and then lived together at the residence of Comintern agent Mikhail Borodin.

Chiang Kai-shek’s anti-communist 1927 coup triggered a new round of wanderings for Hồ. He left Canton again in April 1927 and returned to Moscow, spending some of the summer of 1927 recuperating from tuberculosis in the Crimea, before returning to Paris once more in November. He then returned to Asia by way of Brussels, Berlin, Switzerland, and Italy, from where he took a ship to Bangkok, Thailand, where he arrived in July 1928. “Although we have been separated for almost a year, our feelings for each other do not have to be said in order to be felt”, he reassured Minh in an intercepted letter.

He remained in Thailand, staying in the Thai village of Nachok, until late 1929 when he moved on to Hong Kong, and Shanghai. In June 1931, he was arrested in Hong Kong. To reduce French pressure for extradition, it was announced in 1932 that Nguyễn Ái Quốc had died. The British quietly released him in January 1933. He then made his way back to Milan, Italy, where he served in a restaurant. The restaurant is now a traditional Lombard-cuisine temple and harbors a portrait of Ho Chi Minh on the wall of its main dining hall. He then moved to the Soviet Union, where he spent several more years recovering from tuberculosis. In 1938, he returned to China and served as an adviser with Chinese Communist armed forces, which later forced China’s government to the island of Taiwan. Around 1940, Nguyễn Ái Quốc began regularly using the name "Hồ Chí Minh", a Vietnamese name combining a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ, 胡) with a given name meaning "enlightened will" (from Sino-Vietnamese 志明; Chí meaning 'will' (or spirit), and Minh meaning 'light'), in essence, meaning “bringer of light”.

Independence movement

In 1941, Hồ returned to Vietnam to lead the Việt Minh independence movement. The “men in black” were a 10,000 member guerilla force that operated with the Việt Minh. He oversaw many successful military actions against the Vichy French and Japanese occupation of Vietnam during World War II, supported closely but clandestinely by the United States Office of Strategic Services, and also later against the French bid to reoccupy the country (1946–1954). He was also jailed in China for many months by Chiang Kai-shek’s local authorities. After his release in 1943, he again returned to Vietnam. He was treated for malaria and dysentery by American OSS doctors. In the highlands in 1944, he lived with Do Thi Lac, a woman of Tay ethnicity. Lac had a son in 1956.

After the August Revolution (1945) organized by the Việt Minh, Hồ became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that borrowed much from the French and American declarations. Though he convinced Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate, his government was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American President Harry Truman for support for Vietnamese independence, citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman never responded.

In 1945, in a power struggle, the Việt Minh killed members of rival groups, such as the leader of the Constitutional Party, the head of the Party for Independence, and Ngô Đình Diệm’s brother, Ngô Ðình Khôi. Purges and killings of Trotskyists, the rival anti-Stalinist communists, have also been documented. In 1946, when Hồ traveled outside of the country, his subordinates imprisoned 25,000 non-communist nationalists and forced 6,000 others to flee. Hundreds of political opponents were also killed in July that same year, notably members of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang and the Dai Viet Quoc Dan Dang. All rival political parties were banned and local governments purged to minimise opposition later on.

Birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

On 2 September 1945, after Emperor Bảo Đại’s abdication, Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam, under the name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. With violence between rival Vietnamese factions and French forces increasing, the British commander, General Sir Douglas Gracey, declared martial law. On 24 September, the Việt Minh leaders responded with a call for a general strike.

In September 1945, a force of 200,000 Chinese Nationalists arrived in Hanoi. Hồ Chí Minh made arrangement with their general, Lu Han, to dissolve the Communist Party and to hold an election which would yield a coalition government. When Chiang Kai-Shek later traded Chinese influence in Vietnam for French concessions in Shanghai, Hồ Chí Minh had no choice but to sign an agreement with France on 6 March 1946, in which Vietnam would be recognized as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union. The agreement soon broke down. The purpose of the agreement was to drive out Chiang’s army from North Vietnam. Fighting broke out with the French soon after the Chinese left. Hồ Chí Minh was almost captured by a group of French soldiers led by Jean-Etienne Valluy at Việt Bắc but was able to escape.

“The last time the Chinese came, they stayed a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French shit for five years than to eat Chinese shit for the rest of my life.”—Hồ Chí Minh, 1946

In February 1950, Hồ met with Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong in Moscow after the Soviet Union recognized his government. They all agreed that China would be responsible for backing the Việt Minh. Mao’s emissary to Moscow stated in August that China planned to train 60-70,000 Việt Minh in the near future. China’s support enabled Hồ to escalate the fight against France.

According to a story told by journalist Bernard Fall, after fighting the French for several years, Hồ decided to negotiate a truce. The French negotiators arrived at the meeting site: a mud hut with a thatched roof. Inside they found a long table with chairs and were surprised to discover in one corner of the room a silver ice bucket containing ice and a bottle of good Champagne which should have indicated that Hồ expected the negotiations to succeed. One demand by the French was the return to French custody of a number of Japanese military officers (who had been helping the Vietnamese armed forces by training them in the use of weapons of Japanese origin), in order for them to stand trial for war crimes committed during World War II. Hồ replied that the Japanese officers were allies and friends whom he could not betray. Then he walked out, to seven more years of war.

In 1954, after the important defeat of French Union forces at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, France was forced to give up its empire in Indochina.

Becoming president

The 1954 Geneva Accords, concluded between France and the Việt Minh, provided that communist forces regroup in the North and non-communist forces regroup in the South. Hồ’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam relocated to Hanoi and became the government of North Vietnam, a communist-led single party state. The Geneva accords also provided for a national election to reunify the country in 1956, but this provision was rejected by South Vietnam’s government and the United States. The U.S. committed itself to oppose communism in Asia beginning in 1950, when it funded 80 percent of the French effort. After Geneva, the U.S. replaced France as South Vietnam’s chief sponsor and financial backer, but there never was a treaty between the U.S. and South Vietnam.

Following the Geneva Accords, there was to be a 300-day period in which people could freely move between the zones of the two Vietnams. Some 900,000 to 1 million Vietnamese, mostly Roman Catholic, as well as many anti-communists, intellectuals, former French colonial civil servants and wealthy Vietnamese, left for South Vietnam, while a much smaller number, mostly communists, went from South to North. This was partly due to propaganda claims by a CIA mission led by Colonel Edward Lansdale that the Virgin Mary had moved South out of distaste for life under communism. Some Canadian observers claimed that some were forced by North Vietnamese authorities to remain against their will. During this era, Hồ, following the communist doctrine initiated by Stalin and Mao, started a land reform in which thousands of people accused of being landlords were summarily executed or tortured and starved in prison. With the backing of the U.S., the 1956 elections were canceled by Diem.

At the end of 1959, Lê Duẩn was appointed acting party leader and began sending aid to the Vietcong insurgency in South Vietnam. This represented a loss of power by Hồ, who is said to have preferred the more moderate Giáp for the position. The so called Ho Chi Minh Trail was built in 1959 to allow aid to be sent to the Vietcong through Laos and Cambodia, thus escalating the war. Duẩn was officially named party leader in 1960, leaving Hồ a figurehead president and symbol of Vietnamese Communism.

In 1963, Hồ corresponded with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in the hope of achieving a negotiated peace. This correspondence was a factor in the U.S. decision to tacitly support a coup against Diem later that year.

In late 1964, North Vietnamese combat troops were sent southwest into neutral Laos. During the mid to late 1960s, Lê Duẩn permitted 320,000 Chinese volunteers into northern North Vietnam to help build infrastructure for the country, thereby freeing a similar number of North Vietnamese forces to go south.

By early 1965, U.S. combat troops began arriving in South Vietnam to counter the threat imposed by both the local Vietcong and the North Vietnamese troops in the border areas. As the fighting escalated, widespread bombing of North Vietnam by the U.S. Air Force and Navy escalated as Operation Rolling Thunder. Hồ remained in Hanoi during his final years, demanding the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops in South Vietnam. By July, 1967, Hồ and most of the Politburo of North Vietnam met in a high-level conference where they concluded that the war was not going well for them since the American military blunted every attempt by the Peoples Army of Vietnam to make gains. However, with Hồ's permission, the Viet Cong planned to execute the Tet Offensive as a gamble to take the South by force and defeat the U.S. military.

The offensive was a huge tactical failure which resulted in the decimation of whole units of Viet Cong as well as a fundamental change in the attitudes of people in the South. Up until Tet, they had generally favored the Viet Cong; in the wake of mass executions conducted during the Offensive, popular support shifted to the government. It appeared to Hồ and the rest his government that the war was indeed lost--until it became clear from news coverage that the scope of the action had shocked an American public that up until then had been assured that the Communists were "on the ropes." Ironically, at the moment that they genuinely were struggling, the overly positive spin that the U.S. military had offered for years came crashing down. The bombing of North Vietnam was halted, and negotiations with U.S. officials opened to discuss how to end the war. From that moment on, Hồ and his government realized that while defeat of the U.S. military in battle was impossible, merely prolonging the conflict would lead to eventual acceptance of the terms that Hanoi wanted.

By 1969, with negotiations still dragging on, Hồ's health began to deteriorate from multiple health problems, including diabetes among other ailments, which prevented him from participating in further active politics. However, he insisted that his forces in South Vietnam continue fighting until all of Vietnam was reunited under his government, regardless of the length of time that it might take, believing that time and politics were on his side.

Death

With the outcome of the Vietnam War still in question, Hồ Chí Minh died at 9:47 a.m. on the morning of 2 September 1969, at his home in Hanoi at age 79 from heart failure. His embalmed body is currently on display in a mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi.

News of his death was withheld from the North Vietnamese public for nearly 48 hours due to not wanting to announce his death on the anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He was not initially replaced as president, but a "collective leadership" composed of several ministers and military leaders took over. They took control of North Vietnam to continue Hồ's goal of finishing the war with South Vietnam and uniting it under his founding government.

Six years after his death, after the communists were successful in the war against South Vietnam, several North Vietnamese tanks in Saigon displayed a poster with the following quote; "You are always marching with us, Uncle Hồ".

Legacy

The former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City on 1 May 1975 shortly after its capture which officially ended the war.

Hồ Chí Minh's embalmed body is on display in Hanoi in a granite mausoleum modeled after Lenin's Tomb in Moscow. Streams of people queue each day, sometimes for hours, to pass his body in silence. This is similar to other Communist leaders.

The Hồ Chí Minh Museum in Hanoi is dedicated to his life and work.

Chilean musician Victor Jara references Ho Chi Minh in his song "El Derecho de Vivir en Paz" (The Right to Live in Peace).

Cult of personality

In Vietnam today, he is regarded by the Communist government with god-like status in a nationwide cult of personality, even though, since the mid-1980s, the government has abandoned most of his economic policies. He is still referred to as "Uncle Hồ" or just "Uncle" (''Bác'') in Vietnam. Hồ's image appears on the front of every Vietnamese currency note, and Hồ's portrait and bust is featured prominently in many of Vietnam's public buildings, classrooms and even temples, many of which are devoted to him. In 1987, UNESCO officially recommended to member states that they "join in the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of President Hồ Chí Minh by organizing various events as a tribute to his memory", considering "the important and many-sided contribution of President Ho Chi Minh in the fields of culture, education and the arts" and that Hồ Chí Minh "devoted his whole life to the national liberation of the Vietnamese people, contributing to the common struggle of peoples for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress."

Publications about Ho's non-celibacy are banned in Vietnam. A newspaper editor in Vietnam was dismissed from her post in 1991 for publishing a story about Tang Tuyet Minh. William Duiker's ''Ho Chi Minh: A Life'' (2000) presents much information on Ho's relationships. The government requested substantial cuts in the official Vietnamese translation of Duiker's book, which was refused. In 2002, the Vietnamese government suppressed a review of Duiker's book in the ''Far Eastern Economic Review''.

References

Further reading

Essays

Bernard B. Fall, ed., 1967. ''Ho Chi Minh on Revolution and War, Selected Writings 1920-1966''. New American Library.

Biography

William J. Duiker. 2000. ''Ho Chi Minh: A Life''. Theia.

Jean Lacouture. 1968. ''Ho Chi Minh: A Political Biography''. Random House.

N. Khac Huyen. 1971. ''Vision Accomplished? The Enigma of Ho Chi Minh''. The Macmillan Company.

David Halberstam. 1971. ''Ho.'' Rowman & Littlefield.

Hồ chí Minh toàn tập. NXB chính trị quốc gia

Sophie Quinn-Judge. 2003. ''Ho Chi Minh: The missing years''. C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 1-85065-658-4

Ton That Thien, ''Was Ho Chi Minh a Nationalist? Ho Chi Minh and the Comintern'' Information and Resource Centre, Singapore, 1990

The Việt Minh, NLF and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

William J. Duiker. 1981. ''The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam''. Westview Press.

Hoang Van Chi. 1964. ''From colonialism to communism''. Praeger.

Truong Nhu Tang. 1986. ''A Viet Cong Memoir''. Vintage.

The War in Vietnam

Frances FitzGerald. 1972. ''Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam''. Little, Brown and Company.

American foreign policy

Christopher Hitchens. 2001. ''The Trial of Henry Kissinger''. Verso.

Henry A. Kissinger. 1979. ''White House Years''. Little, Brown.

Richard Nixon. 1987. ''No More Vietnams''. Arbor House Pub Co.

External links

The Drayton Court Hotel

Obituary in ''The New York Times'', 4 September 1969

TIME 100: Hồ Chí Minh

Hồ Chí Minh's biography

Hồ Chí Minh pictures as slides

Satellite photo of the mausoleum on Google Maps

Final Tribute to Ho Chi Minh from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party

Bibliography: Writings of Ho Chi Minh, and Books about Him

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Category:1890 births Category:1969 deaths Category:People from Nghe An Province Category:Cold War leaders Category:Communist rulers Category:Anti-Revisionists Category:People of the First Indochina War Category:People of the Vietnam War Category:Presidents of Vietnam Category:Prime Ministers of Vietnam Category:Vietnamese revolutionaries Category:Vietminh members Category:World War II resistance members Category:Communist Party of Vietnam politicians Category:Bandung Conference attendees *

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