I decided that after returning to the US to pursue an academic career I would eventually study the life of Ho Chi Minh to find the secret of his success.
Many of the ideas of Sun Tzu and Mao Zedong came naturally to the young Ho Chi Minh who would probably have applied the same strategy even had he not been aware of them.
Ho Chi Minh preferred to use the tactics of negotiation and compromise primarily because of his recognition that the revolutionary movement was militarily weaker than its adversaries.
Ho Chi Minh sought to defeat both adversaries [French and American] primarily by using diplomatic and political means combined with paramilitary activities.
Finally in 1954 [Ho Chi Minh] agreed to the Geneva Agreement which divided the country temporarily into two zones in the hope that national elections might unify the country under his leadership.
[Dissidents] groups would benefit enormously from learning about Ho Chi Minh's ideas on how to defeat a more popular enemy.
None of Ho Chi Minh's colleagues was as dedicated to the use of political struggle psychological warfare and diplomatic means as he was.
When the advice of Moscow ran counter to [Ho Chi Minh's] own ideas - as in the 1930s - he kept his head down and waited until the situation changed in his favor with the beginning of the Pacific War.