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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
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- 10. Ho Chi Minh Chronology
| 1890 | On 19 May born Nguyen Van Thanh, youngest son of three children of Nguyen Tat Sac, a minor government official ond revolutionary, in Kim Lien Village, Nghe An Province, Annam (Central Vietnam). |
| 1895 | Attended village school and French lycee at Vinh (14 miles from Kim Lien). Carried messages for anti-French underground. Noted for his political tirades (Fall). |
| 1904–1905 | (Russo-Japanese War. Japanese victory greatly influenced Vietnamese political developments.) |
| 1905 | Dismissed from school for reasons of politics (NVN historians), or poor grades (teachers). |
| 1906–1910 | Transferred to Lycee Quoc Hoc, a prestigious high school, in Hue. Quoc Hoc was a hotbed of Vietnamese resistance to outside influence; among its graduates were Ndo Dinh Diem, Vo Nguyen Giap, and Pham van Dong. (To this day, the students of Hue continue to strongly influence Vietnamese politics, e.g., Hue riots against Ky in 1966.) |
| 1910–1911 | Left school without a diploma; taught school at Lycee Dac-Thanh in Phan-Thiet. Left Phan Thiet in October to attend trade school (probably cooks and bakers) in Saigon. |
| 1912 | Worked as messboy aboard French liner SS Le Touche-Treville on Saigon-Marseille run. Ho carried letter of introduction to Phan Chu Trinh, prison mate of Ho's father at Poulo Condore and veteran nationalist of Dong Bao (Haircutters) movement in 1907. Failing to accept Trinh's nationalism, Ho returned to working on liners travelling the world. |
| 1913 | Worked in kitchens of Carlton Hotel in London under Escoffier, famous French chef. Joined Overseas Workers Union, a clandestine anti-colonialist group dominated by Chinese. |
| 1914 1915 1916 |
(1914–1916 is an obscure period — sometime during the period Ho went back to sea and visited New York, later writing on the U.S. race problem in La Race Noire.) |
| 1917 | Ho turned up in Paris, France, to spread influence of anti-colonialist nationalism to Indochinese conscripted for war service in France. Communist revolution in Russia under Lenin which promised national independence for colonials stimulated Ho to deeper involvement in politics. |
| 1918 | Conducted a photograph retouching business and advertised in Socialist Party's newspaper under the name of Nguyen Ai Quoc (The Patriot). |
C-48
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