Bao Dai In Power Tang example essay topic

439 words
Truong Nhu Tang, while in Paris studying to become a pharmacist as was his father's plan, met Ho Chi Minh in 1945. This handful of meetings had an enormous impact on Tang's life. Until that time Tang was ignorant of Vietnamese history and had no interest in politics. After being inspired by Ho Chi Minh, Tang began to devour everything he could get his hands on about political philosophy and colonialism. (p. 18) Tang became so obsessed with his quest for Vietnamese independence that he forsakes everything for his country.

He refused to resume his pharmacy studies when his father threatened to cut off his funds, when his pregnant wife was forced to return to Vietnam, and even when she was ordered not to communicate with him and his father considered him a lost son. (p. 19-24) When the French put Bao Dai in power Tang began to think about enlisting in the resistance. After much debate and consultation with his colleagues he decided that he was not fit for the life of a guerrilla, and so intensified his commitment to the political side of the fight. (p. 25-26) In 1951 Tang received a letter from his desperate father. The family business was not going well and he needed Tang's help. When he returned to Vietnam he was drafted by Bao Dai's government.

Tang elected to take an alternative service job as a teacher about 200 miles west of Saigon. Working at this job he began to meet others with similar political goals. When Diem became president and was revealed to be incompetent and brutal to his own countrymen, Tang and others formed what would later be know as the National Liberation Front. (p. 25-32) This organization operated with a network of cells each carrying out their own prerogatives without knowledge of the identities of other members unless it was strictly necessary. In this way a member of the NLF could not disclose information to Bao Dai or other enemies beyond the knowledge of their own cell. (p. 70) Meetings were held in remote locations with the identities of members who continued to live civilian lives being hidden from the others. These "secret members" wore scarves over their faces and sat behind curtains during the meeting. (p. 77-78) The NLF had a list of nine common objectives. These objectives would not be easily obtained and included the following: bringing a sense of unity to the people of the south, overthrowing Diem, ending American interference, unifying North and South Vietnam, and building an independent economy. (p. 71).