Word: ho
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Ho's legacy, however impressive in many respects, plainly has its shortcomings. North Viet Nam is a much more egalitarian society today than it was when the "republic" was proclaimed 24 years ago, but politically as well as economically, progress has been scant. Writers and artists are limited by political requirements; a brief attempt at liberalization in the late '50s, patterned after Mao's short-lived campaign to "let 100 flowers bloom," uncovered so much resentment that repression was reinstituted almost immediately. Ho, however, was never blamed for repression: skillfully, he divorced himself in the public mind from that harsh...
That time is now past, and there is no doubt that its passing will adversely affect Communist morale. Ho was an impressive figure?the only truly national leader that Viet Nam has produced in modern times?and he will be missed.' In Hanoi, faces were somber and black bands of mourning appeared on thousands of sleeves. A crowd formed before Ba Dinh Congress Hall, where his body lies in state. The clandestine Viet Cong Radio, echoing Hanoi broadcasts, reported that the new wave of attacks in the South last week had been launched "to change sorrow into a revolutionary...
...Saigon, the reaction was ambivalent. There was "nothing important" in Ho's death, said President Nguyen Van Thieu. "What is important is whether the North Vietnamese will end their aggressive policies or will end the war." Communist defectors felt that Ho's death would cause deep morale problems among the Viet Cong, who admired Ho hugely. One defector noted that the guerrillas have long dreamed of seeing Ho riding triumphantly into Saigon, which then would be renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Nobody expects the V.C. to lay down their weapons because that dream has dissolved, but their righting spirit could...
...sent to the South, as U.S. fighting men have painfully discovered, made excellent soldiers. Tough and well-disciplined, they stood their ground under massive American firepower, then rose to charge. And the battlefield was only one test: the struggle southward along the tangle of jungle paths called the Ho Chi Minh Trail often lasted four to six months, during which many perished of disease, malnutrition and exhaustion. If a trooper survived that trek, he had proved himself strong indeed?and there seems little question that the spirit imparted by Uncle Ho deserved a share of the credit. Ho's successors...
What most interests U.S. officials is how Ho's successors will prosecute the war. "Premise No. 1," says a member of the Administration in Washington, "is that nobody knows anything about what will happen now?and if they say they do, they are lying." There is little doubt that Ho's departure will have a profound effect. Accordingly, the sentiment among many responsible officials in Washington is to "let the dust settle," in Dean Acheson's unforgettable words on China in 1949, rather than to seize the initiative. There are, however, other alternatives. At the extremes, the U.S. could either...