Ho Chi Minh He married nationalism to communism and perfected the deadly art of guerrilla warfare BY STANLEY KARNOW n emaciated, goateed figure in a threadbare bush jacket and frayed rubber sandals, Ho Chi Minh cultivated the image of a humble, benign "Uncle Ho." But he was a seasoned revolutionary and passionate nationalist obsessed by a single goal: independence for his country. Sharing his fervor, his tattered guerrillas vaulted daunting obstacles to crush France's desperate …showed first 75 words of 4695 total…

…showed last 75 words of 4695 total… regime with some semblance of democracy. And so, in 1946, there took place the most ridiculous political event in history : representatives of the Viet people unanimously voted to the office of president a man who was a total stranger to some and whom the rest of them mistook for someone else. That was a good illustration of how well Nguyen Tat Thanh learned from his masters the techniques of concealment, deceit and trickery.