Ho Chi Minh was the Communist leader of Northern Vietnam and the Viet Minh, which seized power of the capital at the end of WWII. Before he lead North Vietnam, Minh was a voice for Vietnam's independence from France during WWI. He joined the Communist Party after being inspired by Bolshevik Revolution. His father, Nguyen Sinh Huy, had been a teacher, but refused to learn French as it was required and was stripped of his title. He sent Minh to a French school,believing that knowledge of the French language would aid him some day in the struggle against the French.
The Geneva Peace Accords caused the separation of Vietnam at the 17th parallel. It was from this that North and South Vietnam were born. Neither state would have a leader until an election in 1956, which they never reached. Both states had fallen into distress. |
The movement against the Vietnam War had hardly begun by the end of 1965. It started with only a few college students, many of which were a part of the rising Hippie movement. The protests really kicked it off, though, when more and more U.S. troops began dying and with the help of Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech, the movement skyrocketed. in 1967, about 100,000 protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, and 30,000 went on and marched to the Pentagon. The Tet offensive left U.S. citizens in shock, and started a fire in the anti-war movement. By 1968, 35% of the America population was against the war.
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