Ho Chi Minh for a long time believed that the Americans would be there for him in the end. That he would be able to count on the United States. And he believed that not only because of what Franklin Roosevelt said during World War Two about you know colonialism being a thing of the past and how we have to support self-determination. But he also believed that, Ho, because of America’s historical experience. Which is that the United States had been a colonial had fought a war against the colonial overlord in the British. Knew, in other words, what he was trying to do in Vietnam and had gone through a revolution successfully. So, ergo, the U.S. should be there for me.
So he struggled with this. Didn’t want to believe in the hypocrisy. Didn’t believe that the United States could say one thing and then do something else. And it took him a long time to shed this idea that ultimately the Americans will come to my assistance. It was only I think in 1948/49, so deep into his war with France, that he finally said, “Okay, I guess I should give up on the Americans.” It’s a tragic part of the story as far as I’m concerned.
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