7 Jawaharlal Nehru 7

Western countries; but in the hindsight of history, Nehru’s

action is justifiable. The Kashmir region remained a peren-

nial problem throughout Nehru’s term as prime minister.

Nehru’s health showed signs of deteriorating not long

after the clash with China. He suffered a slight stroke in

1963, followed by a more debilitating attack in January 1964.

He died a few months later from a third and fatal stroke.

Nehru’s only child, Indira Gandhi, served as India’s

prime minister from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984.

Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, was prime minister from 1984

to 1989.

Ho Chi Minh

(b. May 19, 1890, Hoang Tru, Vietnam, French Indochina—d. Sept. 2,

1969, Hanoi, Vietnam)

H

o Chi Minh was the founder of the Indochina

Communist Party and its successor, the Viet Minh

(1941). From 1945 to 1969, he was president of the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).

Early Life

Born Nguyen Sinh Cung, Ho was brought up in the village

of Kim Lien. The son of a poor country scholar, he had a

wretched childhood, but between the ages of 14 and 18 he

was able to study at a grammar school in Hue. He is next

known to have been a schoolmaster in Phan Thiet and

then was apprenticed at a technical institute in Saigon.

In 1911, under the name of Ba, he found work as a cook

on a French steamer. He was a seaman for more than three

years, visiting various African ports and the American cit-

ies of Boston and New York. After living in London from

1915 to 1917, he moved to France, where he worked, in turn,