We came back to Hanoi from Dalat on May 13. Our National Assembly delegation which was on a visit to the French National Assembly and the French people had not yet returned. One week after the delegation’s departure from Hanoi, Saigon news agencies reported that a “Cochinchinese mission” had left for France to inform the French Government of the present situation and request autonomy for Cochinchina. The mission was headed by Nguyen Van Xuan. This was just another trick by the High Commissioner.
On May 18, under the headline: “Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese Nation”, the Cuu Quoc published in the capital city wrote:
“On this day of May 19, fifty-six years ago (1890) Ho Chi Minh was born.
“It is he who, with his skill and determination, has founded and fostered several Vietnamese revolutionary organisations. The dynamism of almost all Vietnamese combatants is the result of his talented training...”
The article spoke of President Ho’s contribution to the revolution, exalting him as the soul, the personification of the Vietnamese revolution and highlighted the great significance of May 19.
For the first time, the entire Vietnamese nation learned of the date of President Ho’s birthday. To him, our people owed the change in their life for the better. We prepared to celebrate his birthday. As we were well aware of his modesty, we kept the anniversary as simple as possible.
On the same day, d’Argenlieu arrived in Hanoi. This was the first time the French High Commissioner had come to the capital of our country. The objective of this visit was as invidious as all his other schemes. At the meeting in Ha Long Bay, the High Commissioner had agreed with President Ho that our Government’s negotiating delegation would leave for France on May 31 at the latest. The day was drawing near and the political situation in France was still in a muddle. Political parties were fully engaged in the election campaign. It was not clear who would gain power in the French government. D’Argenlieu did not want the Vietnamese government delegation to come to France for negotiations in such a situation. Besides, Cedile’s actors were not yet ready to stage their play of an “autonomous Cochinchina” and the French Government had not yet formally adopted the political solution of the High Commissioner. Therefore, d’Argenlieu wanted to request President Ho to postpone the departure of our Government’s delegation for France. He also intended to take this opportunity to give us forewarning of the imminent founding of the “autonomous state of Cochinchina”.
At 6 p.m, d’Argenlieu, accompanied by General Valluy and Crépin, went to pay their respects to President Ho at the Bac Bo Palace.
With Uncle Ho to receive them were Messrs Huynh, To and a few of us. Proposing a toast in honour of the High Commissioner, Uncle Ho said:
“The capital city of the new Democratic Republic of Viet Nam is glad to receive the representative of France. Following our consultations in Ha Long Bay, the Dalat preparatory conference and the friendship visit of the Vietnamese National Assembly delegation to the French National Assembly, your visit, today, will surely mark a new development in Vietnamese-French relations.”
With great civility, d’Argenlieu replied:
“Mr President, tomorrow is your birthday anniversary. May I wish you, Mr President, a long life. I am confident that, from now on, the friendship between France and Viet Nam will grow closer and more intimate day by day.”
Early on May 19, the comrades in the Standing Bureau and the Government came to present their birthday greetings to Uncle Ho. This was a rare occasion for us to be all with him on his birthday. In a poem dedicated to his memory and composed in early Spring 1970, To Huu wrote:
As usual he was, perhaps, away
Leaving all the greetings to the nation...
Uncle Ho was often away on the occasion of his birth day anniversaries.
He tried to refuse, to put away the glories which were reserved for him. He did not like to speak of his achievements and to listen to eulogies in his honour.
Stirring drumbeats resounded before the Bac Bo Palace. The children were coming. Uncle Ho went out to bring them in. A dozen boys and girls came on behalf of all the young pioneers in the city and its outskirts to present to Uncle Ho their birthday greetings. Among them was one who had to make his own living as a newsboy and another who came from the Hang Bot orphanage. They vied with each other in their rush to pin “Young Pioneer” badges onto his coat and to make him gifts of the letters “i” and “t” which were symbols of the popular literacy movement and pamphlets of statutes and songs of the Young Pioneers’ Association for National Salvation.
Uncle Ho’s present to the children that year was a bach tan (“hundred domes”) ornametal plant grown in a pot. He pointed to the lush plant and said:
“This is my present to you, children. Later, its branches will develop into a hundred domes. Take good care of it so that it may grow strongly! That’s the way to show affection for me.”
The children sang a gay song to thank him. As they left carrying the plant with them, a group of more than fifty men and women entered. The men wore khaki and the women black peasant pyjamas. There were representatives of fighting South Viet Nam who came to present their greetings.
Having received their greetings, he said:
“Thank you very much for having come to wish me a long life. As a matter of fact, the press here had made too much of my birthday. I think that at the age of fifty-six I do not yet deserve to receive your wishes for longevity. It is still a young age. And I must confess that I am ashamed seeing you here, in comfortable and joyous North Viet Nam, while Nam Bo is still deprived of peace.”
Tears trickled down his cheeks. Tears also welled up in the eyes of the Nam Bo representatives.
A few moments later, the Central Board for the New Life Style, set up the previous month by Government decree, came to greet him. Its members seized the opportunity to ask him to give the movement a motto. He said:
“You want a motto? Here it is:
“Diligence, thrift, integrity, uprightness, total devotion to the public service and complete selflessness.”
One of them suggested that it was already a familiar motto; now they should like to ask him for a new motto which would encourage the New Life Style.
Uncle Ho smiled:
“Everyday we eat, drink and breathe to live. These are the things our forefathers had to do. We have to do them now and future generations will have to do the same. Thus, to eat, drink and breathe can never be considered outmoded. It is the same with diligence, thrift, integrity, uprightness, total devotion to the public service and complete selflessness.”
The same day, an AFP correspondent asked him, in an interview, about the disruption of the Dalat conference. He answered:
“In a sincere frank and sometimes even brutal manner, representatives of the two countries have made their positions clear. But this is a good thing. For we now understand each other better than before. Mutual agreement has been reached on some questions and differences remain on others. Anyway, this was only a preparatory conference. It is the task of the Paris Conference to adopt the provisions agreed upon in Dalat and to iron out the conflicting viewpoints which, in my opinion, are not irreconcilable. The two nations should agree with each other to bring about friendly cooperation. We shall lay a solid foundation for the future negotiations.”
In face of the French reactionaries’ acts of sabotage, he still did his best to obstruct them so that in case a war could not be avoided, the period of accommodation would at least be stretched.
During his few days in Hanoi, d’Argenlieu made every effort to persuade President Ho to postpone the Vietnamese delegation’s departure for France for formal negotiations. He tried to present this as a necessity that would serve the interests of the negotiations and of Viet Nam. In the talks, he artfully touched upon an existing “difficulty” i.e., he “could no longer continue to block the Cochinchinese people’s aspirations for autonomy.” He sought to justify before hand his treacherous act — to be effected later — against the March 6 Agreement.
However, all his crafty words could not in any way cover up his brazen and odious schemes and action. We knew very well that any delay in the formal negotiations would further facilitate the realization of the fait accompli policy pursued by d’Argenlieu and the reactionaries in Indochina. Uncle Ho firmly demanded that the High Commissioner keep the Vietnamese delegation’s date of departure to that already agreed upon at Ha Long Bay, i.e. by the end of May 1946 at the latest. Having failed in his mission of persuasion, d’Argenlieu, disappointed, returned to Saigon on May 22.
The press in Hanoi reported that, on May 31, the Vietnamese delegation would leave for France for formal negotiations.
There was not much time left for the High Commissioner. Now, all the efforts of the reactionaries in Saigon were focused on the farce of “autonomous Cochinchina” which should be staged before the negotiating delegation of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam set foot on French soil.