September 2
1945 In Tokyo Bay, aboard the USS Missouri, the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers, formally ending World War II. Click here to see the text of the instrument of surrender. Estimates of the total number of war-related deaths range between 40 and 55 million. Perhaps 15.5 million died in the Pacific War.
Of course, the role of air power and the use of atomic weapons in the defeat of Japan continues to be the subject of much debate. In 1946, the United States published a summary of its strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific.
1969 Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnam's president, died. Ho Chi Minh had struggled for seven decades to end foreign domination over Vietnam.
Born Nguyen Sinh Cung, Ho devoted his life to fighting foreign domination of Vietnam. He participated in the founding of the French Communist Party in 1920 and established the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League in Guangzhou (Canton), China in 1925. In 1930, the league merged with two other communist groups to became the Vietnamese Communist Party. During World War II, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency) supported Ho's guerrilla attacks against the Japanese. After the defeat of the Japanese, however, the U.S. preoccupation with opposing communism meant that it would support the French as they fought to retain control of Vietnam. When the French were defeated in 1954 and the U.S. backed an opposing regime, the former allies became enemies leading to U.S. involvement in another of Vietnam's wars. Ho was confident of the eventual triumph of his movement:
"In a war, it is natural that there are losses and sacrifices. Our people are determined to fight on. We will endure all sacrifice for ten years, 20 years or longer, until complete victory."
Ho Chi Minh did not live to see his army occupy South Vietnam and his party control the entire nation. Not long after taking control of the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in 1975, however, his successors renamed the city Ho Chi Minh City.
Time magazine included Ho Chi Minh among its most important "leaders and revolutionaries" of the 20th century.
The Things Asian website features a photo essay by Michael McKittrick on Ho Chi Minh images in present-day Vietnam.
The U.S. Library of Congress's Vietnam: A Country Study includes a photo of Ho Chi Minh speaking in 1960.
The Teaching about Japan website is
edited by Clayton Dube.
He welcomes your comments and suggestions.
© 2001 UCLA Center for East Asian Studies