HY 2020 Unit 5 Assessment Question 1

Unit V Assessment Question #1

Briefly summarize the roles of both Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem in the Vietnamese conflict. What was the background of each man? Explain why Ho was more successful than Diem.

Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem both had major contributions in the Vietnam War. Their contributions were determined both before the United States involvement and after the arrival of the United States in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was a very mysterious figure who believed that Vietnam belonged to the Vietnamese people. Ho Chi Minh believed that one county should not be ruled by another, and because of this belief he was leading the idea of formulating the philosophy for Vietnamese independence. Due to the mysteriousness of this life, he portrayed himself as a man of the people, to which he used to his advantage during the Vietnam War. Before the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh went to Europe to represent Vietnam at the Peace Talks where he requested President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points for Vietnamese independence, after World War One. Ho became the founding member of the French Communist Party, which its goal was to end France’s control over Vietnam. This was the anticolonial viewpoint that Ho had. He did not want once country to control another. Hence why Ho founded the French Communist Party. Ho was once imprisoned in china during World War II, and upon his release, he went back to his homeland in Vietnam worlk with the United States on numerous operations. Ho was known for his dealings with France, Japan, China and the United States. His number one goal was the independence of Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem was a faithfully anti-communist Vietnamese man who was the number one enemy of Ho Chi Minh, a communist ruler. Ngo was a loyal pro-independence who demanded an end to French rule in Indochina. He refused to collaborate with the Japanese when they occupied Indochina but supported the Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai. By doing so, Ngo was viewed by the Vietnamese as collaboration by association. Ngo created the political party, Phong Trao Quoc-Gia Qua Kich. This political party was known as the Nationalist Extremist Movement. The Nationalist Extremist Movement’s mission was to gain the independence of Vietnam. Ngo was appointed as the chief of state in 1955. Ngo prepared South Vietnam to invade North Vietnam in order to fight and win independence. Ngo was the ruler of Southern Vietnam until he was assassinated by officers in 1963. Ho was considered more successful because he was a man of the people and had different tactics in obtaining Vietnamese Independence. Ngo was more of a dictator and was the people did not support his polocies and became very unpopular with the Vietnamese People. Ngo’s overall paranoia and poor decisions is what got him killed in the end. Overall the Vietnam War was about turning Vietnam into an independent country. The United States involvement was due to allied power and the overall mission of helping the French and British fight the Vietnamese enemies for the independence of a nation.