12. Ho Chi Minh
A massive war could have been averted if the United States had just listened to a man who had previously fought with them as an ally. Instead, Ho Chi Minh developed into one of the toughest enemies the United States has ever faced, dragging them into long, bloody conflict in Vietnam. After World War One, Ho Chi Minh worked with other Vietnamese nationalists and petitioned for the recognition of Vietnam as an independent state from French occupation. Ho Chi Minh specifically reached out to the United States, believing that they would see the Vietnamese struggle as similar to their own War of Independence from Britain centuries earlier. He even created a constitution that pretty much a word for word copy of the U.S. constitution. The U.S. and every other country present at the Versailles peace talks completely ignored Vietnam’s goal of independence.
This forced Ho Chi Minh to look elsewhere for recognition. The Russians welcomed him into their country, where he trained a new generation of Radical Vietnamese communists for revolution. When the Second World War came along, Ho Chi Minh worked closely with the OSS (precursor to the CIA), fighting against Japanese and French occupation within Vietnam. His group of militants was personally trained by OSS members sent by the States. Using his training, Ho Chi Minh staged a revolution and established himself as Chairman of Vietnam. Once again, he asked the United States to recognize them as an independent state, and once again the United States ignored him. By the 1950s, the CIA and America had turned against Ho Chi Minh, who had by now established complete control over North Vietnam. What followed was one of the most infamous wars in history, the Vietnam War.
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