| Father of Indochina Hồ Chí Minh | |
|---|---|
| |
| Portrait, c. 1946 | |
| 1st President of Indochina | |
| In office 11 December 1945 – 2 September 1969 | |
| Prime Minister | Souphanouvong Soong Ching-ling |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Võ Nguyên Giáp |
| Chairman of the Socialist Labor Party | |
| In office 2 September 1945 – 2 September 1969 | |
| Executive Secretary | Trường Chinh Lê Duẩn |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Võ Nguyên Giáp |
| Leader of the Fatherland Front | |
| In office 1 November 1955 – 2 September 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Lê Duẩn (acting) Front dissolved |
| 1st President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam | |
| In office 2 September 1945 – 2 September 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Bảo Đại (as Emperor) |
| Succeeded by | Phạm Văn Đồng |
| Member of the Assembly of the Republic of Vietnam | |
| In office 2 September 1945 – 2 September 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Tôn Đức Thắng |
| Constituency | Hanoi |
| Member of the Chamber of the Republics of Indochina | |
| In office 11 December 1945 – 2 September 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Nguyễn Hữu Thọ |
| Constituency | Southern Vietnam |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nguyễn Sinh Cung 19 May 1890 Kim Liên, Nghệ An, French Indochina |
| Died | 2 September 1969 (aged 79) Hanoi, DR Vietnam, Indochina |
| Resting place | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi |
| Nationality | Vietnamese |
| Political party | Socialist Labor (from 1924) |
| Other political affiliations |
French Section of the Socialist Labor International (1919–1921) French Communist Party (1921–1925) |
| Spouse(s) | Tăng Tuyết Minh (m. 1926, s. 1928, r. 1949) |
| Alma mater | Communist University of the Toilers of the East |
| Occupation | politician revolutionary pastry chef poet |
| Signature | 
|
Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1979), commonly known as Uncle Hồ, was an Indochinese and Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He concurrently served as the first President of Indochina and of Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969. Ideologically a Vietnamese and later pan-Indochinese nationalist, he was the Chairman of the Socialist Labor Party of Indochina (SLP).
Hồ Chí Minh was born in Nghệ An province in the French protectorate of Annam. From 1911, he left French Indochina to continue his revolutionary activities. He was also one of the founding members of the French Communist Party. In 1930, he founded the Communist Party of Indochina (later became the Socialist Labor Party of Indochina) and in 1941, he returned to Vietnam and founded the Việt Minh independence movement, an umbrella group led by the SLP. Then, Hồ led the August Revolution against the Japanese in August 1945, which resulted in the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
During his struggle for independence amid French efforts to reclaim Indochina, Hồ's government made an alliance with the United States, paving the way for international recognition of Vietnamese, Lao and Khmer independence in 1945. The three countries united to form the Union of Indochinese Democratic Republics the same year, with Hồ as its first President. During the Chinese Civil War, Indochina supported the KMT against the CCP, and the reduced ROC was later admitted into Indochina as a constituent republic.
The foundation for the influential position held by Indochina today was laid during the economic miracle of the 60s under the administration of Hồ, who maintained neutrality during the Cold War and enabled Indochina to receive economic assistance from both the United States and the Soviet Union. He was the founding chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement along with President Tito of Yugoslavia, upon which the Indochinese multiethnic and federal model of governance was based on. He became an influential leader of the Third Way movement during the Cold War. Hồ gradually retired from politics in 1965 in favor of his protége Võ Nguyên Giáp; he died in 1969 and was bestowed the honorary title Father of Indochina by the Union Assembly.
Aside from being a politician, Hồ was a writer, poet, and journalist. He wrote several books, articles, and poems in Chinese, Vietnamese, and French.