~~ Ho Chi Minh/Domino Theory ~~

~~Ho Chi Minh~~

A man of humble background, Ho Chi Minh became one of the key figures in establishing communist rule in Vietnam and became notorious throughout the world as one of Communist’s strongest leaders. He organized the Communist revolution in Vietnam and can be given much of the credit for reuniting Vietnam under communist rule.
Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyen Tat Thanh in 1890 in the village of Kim Lien in Annam which is located in central Vietnam. His father, Nguyen Sinh Huy was a nationalist and raised his children to hate the French who controlled Vietnam. Ho was the youngest of three children all of which did their part in to overtake the French. His sister obtained a job in the French army and used her position to steal weapons for their eventual overthrow but she was caught and sentenced to life in prison. Though his father refused to learn French, he sent Ho to the National Academy school in Hue to learn be educated by the French in hopes that Ho could obtain knowledge that could be used against the French. When Ho finished school he became a teacher at a private school. He became a sailor and in traveling the world he learned that other countries were just as oppressed ads the French as Vietnam.

~~Domino Theory ~~

The Cold War “containment” notion was born of the Domino Theory, which held that if one country fell under communist influence or control, its neighboring countries would soon follow. Containment was the cornerstone of the Truman Doctrine as defined by a Truman speech on March 12, 1947. The Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO and the United Nations then became the foundation of American foreign policy through the Reagan administration and beyond, for about 50 years.
American policy toward the Soviet Union did not change immediately. The Truman administration, operating on the basis of JCS 1067* and the Potsdam agreements, was determined to get along with the Soviets. Those agreements made clear that their principal mission was the unification of Germany, and therefore, cooperation with the Soviets seemed essential. Germany would be administered as a single economic unit by the Allied Control Council under General Lucius D. Clay, but Stalin sealed all land access to East Germany, and West Berlin (in East Germany) became isolated. Clay said to his staff, "We have to make it work. If the four nations cannot work together in Berlin, how can we get together in the United Nations to secure the peace of the world?" Obviously, there had to be some give and take; within the Allied Control Council, that was going to be the American policy.