Vietnam War > Ho Chi Minh > An American Ally Betrayed by Washington

Our Ho - Fact and Fiction by Alan Trustman

Over 250,000 S Koreans served in Vietnam. Over 100 N Koreans manned Hanoi's MiGs and SAM missile launchers. This fascinating book is unknown to nearly everyone but a handful of surviving OSS veterans, a few knowledgeable academics and scholars. It chronicles the US-Ho Chi Min love/hate affairs leading to the Vietnam War.

Ho Chi Minh worked for the American intelligence in Indochina during World War II, from 1943 through 1945. Although trained in Moscow, he was primarily a nationalist seeking independence for his country and sympathetically pro-American, just as Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung were (and incidentally, Kim Jong Il is).

America financed and advised Ho until late 1945, when Truman betrayed him and gave Indochina back to the French. The United States financed and advised the French until 1954--when we betrayed them and gave Indochina to Diem.

We financed and advised Diem until 1963, when we betrayed him and gave Indochina to a succession of other failing leaders. And sent in hundreds of thousands of troops. We ended up betraying the South Vietnamese as well.

Our Ho - Fact and Fiction by Alan Trustman

The author of the 1994 novel "Father's Day" and a dozen produced movies including the two Steve McQueen classics, "The Thomas Crown Affair" and "Bullitt" -- is an action-adventure, love story and mystery set against the background of what really happened during the early years in Vietnam.

The truth about Ho's pro-American days has been published previously in sources largely unread and out of print, but it was omitted from the Pentagon Papers. Why?

There is more:

During World War II, Ho rescued our downed pilots and provided in formation on Japanese troop movements. Our Navy and OSS loved him. At the end of WWII, Ho adopted a constitution similar to ours and declared independence. He disbanded the Communist Party and called for a general election with all parties participating. The Americans on the scene were treated as heroes, loved and celebrated by everyone.

The book identifies living OSS witnesses who were there at the time and the excellent BBC documentary interviewing them and showing Ho Chi Minh declaring Vietnamese independence. Can you imagine--Ho Chi Minh quoting the American Declaration of Independence?

The author is a political conservative. He was a supporter of the war, and of the men who were fighting it even more than the war, but he believes that the American people, particularly those who fought the war, are entitled to know what really happened.

Home Page | Vote | Political | Education | Vietnam War | Personal Story