Challenge: Pro-U.S Ho Chi Minh

Yeah. Not supporting Ho Chi Minh was one of America's dumbest mistakes. And I'm pretty sure one of the reasons he went full blown Communist was because, as Hendryk said, no one else would give him the time of day.
 
Simple: when Ho Chi Minh sends a letter in 1920 to the French SFIO asking them for support to the Vietnamese nationalist cause (not plain independance, just autonomy with recognition of the distinct Vietnamese nationalities), the French socialists don't tell him like IOTL to f*ck off; Uncle Ho doesn't turn to the communists instead, become a moderate left-wing supporter of the French Union, and as he grows more and more nationalistic but still moderate, the Americans support him in order to take control of the situation in Southeastern Asia.
 

abc123

Banned
Yeah. Not supporting Ho Chi Minh was one of America's dumbest mistakes. And I'm pretty sure one of the reasons he went full blown Communist was because, as Hendryk said, no one else would give him the time of day.

I agree, the Americans could force French to give independence to Vietnam.
;)
 
We've had discussions about Ho and the French before, which doesn't seem to have entered into this conversation.

IIRC, the initial dialogue between Ho and the French was carried out by one French official, and Ho was well on the way to gaining independence (?autonomy?), but then that guy ?died? ?was recalled? and a hardliner replaced him and the whole war started.

So... If my memories are correct (and they're pretty fuzzy), France could easily have allowed a 'free' Indochina, which would have meant that Ho wouldn't have radicalized and Vietnam might well have done a 'Yugoslavia' - a socialist (even communist) state that was western leaning.
 
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