Word: ho
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...March 1946, the French made a deal with Ho, who held the north firmly with Japanese arms and Nationalist China's support. They recognized Ho's government as a "free" state within the French Union, and Ho let the French army into his capital, Hanoi (pop. 237,000). The French invited Ho to Fontainebleau as a chief of state to work out details of the agreement. By November, Ho was back in Indo-China, offering to work "in loyal cooperation" with the French. But the French soon learned, as others have painfully since, that Communist "interpretations" always differed...
...Ho ordered a surprise attack against the French garrison at Hanoi. His men blew up the power station, raided a hospital. France declared it would not yield to such violence, and the war was on. "The battle will be long and difficult," said Ho. All this got little attention in Washington, 13,000 air miles away. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had referred to French colonialism's "shocking record"; the U.S. now stipulated that U.S. economic aid to France must not be diverted to its colonial...
Through 1947 and 1948 the Indo-China war indeed seemed to be little more than another colonial war. In February 1947, the French drove the Communists away from Hanoi. In May, they demanded that Ho lay down his arms. In October, the French moved out from Hanoi towards the 500-mile China frontier. But they could not bring Ho to battle...
Belatedly, the French looked around for more reliable nationalist support. They finally picked on Bao Dai, 40, a fun-loving descendant of the ancient Annamite emperors, who had collaborated with the Japanese, and later with Ho Chi Minh. In 1948, the French asked Bao Dai to return to Indo-China as chief of state for Viet Nam. In March 1949, the French gave Bao Dai's state "independence within the framework of the French Union." In April, Bao Dai landed in Indo-China. "I risk my skin," said he, justifiably, for he got but little support. "COMMUNISM No-COLONIALISM...
...December 1949, Red China's triumphant Mao Tse-tung reached the IndoChina border, and started ferrying up to 3,000 tons of supplies a month to Comrade Ho. In January 1950, Moscow and Peking recognized Ho Chi Minh's "Democratic Republic." In February 1950, the U.S. recognized Bao Dai's state, and 37 of its allies followed suit. In June 1950, the U.S. sent its first shipment of arms. When the Communists struck in Korea. President Truman sent military advisers to Saigon. The world issue was joined...