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Lady Borton - A life time American friend of Viet Nam - has done extensive research on the life of Ho Chi Minh. Above, Artist Trinh Phoung's painting of Ho Chi Minh's return to Viet Nam after 30 years of traveling.
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THE MAN
AND
HIS WORLD
Lady Borton's book on Ho Chi Minh gives an insight into the man behind the myth and the revolutionaries that joined him.
He was one man - with 174 different aliases during a life of struggle: Born as Nguyen Sinh Cung in 1890, died as Ho Chi Minh in 1969.
The story of his life becomes very much alive in a new book, written by an extraordinary American woman.
Ho Chi Minh used 174 aliases to cover his tracks during a life time of political and military struggle. Several of his fellow first generation revolutionaries were executed by the French. Ho himself narrowly escaped French intelligence agents, who pursued him relentlessly. This photo was taken during the planning of the final attack on the French army at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Ho is seen with (from right) fellow revolutionaries: General Vo Nguyen Giap, Party Secretary Troung Chinh and Pham Van Dong, who became Viet Nam's first Prime Minister later in 1954.
Lady Borton arrived in South Viet Nam in 1969 (the year Ho Chi Minh Died) as a 26 year old relief worker in Quang Ngai province, one of the most contested war zones. In a sense she never left Viet Nam.
Lady Borton was one of the very first Americans to return after the war, and since then she has been involved in a broad range of activities within development assistance an advocacy work.
I met her the first time in Copenhagen in 1990, when she was on a campaign in Europe for World Church Aid to raise funds for NGO assistance to Viet Nam. At that time she was one of the few that spoke out actively against the die-hard US led campaign to keep Viet Nam isolated as paria in the global community.
Meeting her almost 20 years later at a cinema screening of an old documentary about US prisoners of war in Ha Noi - the only difference I see are a few gray hairs. Lady Borton is still vibrating with tremendous energy.
Most recently she has done 'Ho Chi Minh - a Journey' a small, but very interesting book about Ho Chi Minh.
It is a no-nonse and still fascinating account of the amazing journey that turned a Mandarin's son into a cook at a Boston hotel, a revolutionary in Paris, a prisoner in Hong Kong, a US ally during the Second World War - and finally into the first President of his country.
Borton's book also put Bac Ho in context with his contemporary revolutionaries - of whom only former general Vo Nguyen Giap is still alive at 95.
The book is availiable in Ha Noi for a mere USD 12 for a copy with Lady Borton's signature. In addition you get a very interesting compilation of photos and historic documents.
Lady Borton: Ho Chi Minh: A Journey, 164 pages (The Gioi, The World Publishers 2007).
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