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Archimedes Patti is a rare witness when invited to a historic event: President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence of September 2, 1945.
Former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee, Ambassador Ha Huy Thong shared with Week Vietnam the story of Archimedes Patti, former Chief Representative of the United States Strategic Services Agency (forerunner of the CIA).
He said:
Until now, no one has been able to estimate how many foreigners attended the September 2 ceremony 75 years ago. Because at that time there were tens of thousands of people, but perhaps Mr. Archimedes Patti was one of the few witnesses, if not the only American, present in Ba Dinh Square at that time.
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| Ambassador Ha Huy Thong |
Patti was the former Chief Representative of the Strategic Services Agency (OSS, the predecessor of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, CIA) in Kunming, China. She followed the Japanese situation in Indochina from 1943 to 1944 and began meeting with President Ho Chi Minh.
In August 1945, Patti went to Hanoi to supervise the disarmament of the Japanese. This time, he met Uncle Ho again and was invited to attend the Declaration of Independence.
Later, in her memoir published in 1980 titled “Why Vietnam: America’s Albatross Prelude” (Why Vietnam: America’s Seagulls Prelude), Patti told the story of her encounter with Uncle Ho. The Vietnamese people’s response to the Declaration of Independence on September 2 and the moment Uncle Ho asked, “Can I clearly tell your people?”
Meet old friends, great friends
What was your impression of accompanying Mr. Patti during his return to Vietnam in 1982, Ambassador?
37 years later, Patti asked to return to Vietnam in late August, early September 1982. I was fortunate to have been assigned to accompany him, of course, along with many others. I translate to help Patti.
Little by little, in the process of traveling with him, I realized that the places he visited were history. Patti went to the mausoleum to visit uncle, to visit the stilt house and fish pond, to the house number 19-21 of Hai Ba Trung (formerly the headquarters of the Consulate General, a diplomatic property of the USA, now used as an American club) …
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| Mr. Patti visited the Mausoleum to visit Uncle. Photo provided by Ambassador Ha Huy Thong |
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| Photo: provided by Ambassador Ha Huy Thong |
Personally, I can’t forget the day he entered Uncle Ho’s mausoleum. In 1982, allowing an American to visit was not easy, it required very careful consideration, and it is important to understand the reasons why they are requesting. At that moment, Patti said a phrase that I remember forever. I think that statement is simple but very beautiful, convincing. She said, “I’m going to see old friends again, to see my great friend again.”
When Patti entered the Mausoleum, she saw the golden words in the hall, she asked me what word. I explained it as “There is nothing more precious than independence, freedom.” Patti said it sounds like the Declaration of Independence of the United States written by Sir Thomas Jefferson. He then emphasized that this is not just the idea of Americans, this is the common value of humanity and Uncle Ho has used the quintessence of human values to sum up in this short and concise sentence.
Returning to Vietnam after 37 years, Patti also visited 48 Hang Ngang. When I took her there, she told me she met Uncle Ho here. Uncle Ho asked him about the Declaration of Independence. Patti then quoted the classic verses from the Declaration of July 4, 1776.
Later, in various interviews, Patti related that on September 2, 1945, when she attended the Declaration of Independence, she was not surprised to learn that President Ho Chi Minh named Vietnam. with words that indicate common human values, crystallized over thousands of years. That is democracy, republic, independence, freedom, happiness. She said it was the breath, the trend of the times and Patti understood what President Ho Chi Minh wanted when she built a country in Vietnam on the Declaration of Independence.
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| US intelligence officer Patti visits Uncle Ho’s relic on stilts. Photo provided by Ambassador Ha Huy Thong |
After entering Uncle Ho’s mausoleum, he visited the house on stilts. He was very grateful when he saw a president who was not in the building of the Presidential Palace but lived simply, in harmony with nature. Patti tells me that “great people think alike.” I really absorb his deep thoughts about Uncle Ho.
In late 1989, while working for the United Nations Mission in New York, I received a call from Mr. Patti asking the Mission to help him attend an international conference on President Ho Chi Minh in May 1990 in Hanoi. . And he was able to return to Vietnam for the centenary of Uncle Ho’s birth.
The intelligence officer’s view of US-Vietnam relations
Mr. Patti has a lot of experience, a lot of debt to Vietnam. From a personal perspective, how does the ambassador assess an American intelligence officer’s view of Vietnam after 1945?
According to documents so far, Patti in 1945 appears to be the only person and the highest level of America in Vietnam to attend the Declaration of Independence 2/9.
In an interview in the late 1990s, Patti said that after hearing President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945, she witnessed the response of thousands of people. In early 1946, she repeatedly sent telegrams requesting the White House and US agencies to recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
He said that Vietnam could be an enemy of France at the time, but a country that used to be an ally of the United States against the fascists is now not an enemy of the United States, so the United States needs to recognize a unique Vietnam. create.
But Patti also admits that, at the time, the United States faced many challenges both globally and domestically, and did not understand how the White House reacted to the telegrams it sent.
When he later gave this interview, there were many historians and commentators who said that if the US government were to focus on Patti’s telegrams, both countries would have avoided the “chapter.” unhappiness “later in America’s relationship with Vietnam.
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Ambassador Ha Huy Thong shared about Uncle Ho’s thinking on independence and freedom: Independence Freedom is a common value of humanity and it is also the thought of the Vietnamese nation. This is a transversal and unique thought in the ways of the Party and the State, clearly reflected in the Constitution. Vietnam’s first Constitution in 1946 drafted by President Ho Chi Minh, with fewer than 10 people implementing it urgently in a few months, clearly demonstrating the spirit of independence and freedom. Responding to foreign journalists in early 1946, after the victory of the first general elections of an independent Vietnam, Uncle Ho said: “I have only one greed, the supreme desire, which is for our country to be completely independent, our people will be completely free. “ Earlier, in “Letters to the popular committees of all periods, provinces, districts and villages” published in the Save Quoc Cong newspaper on October 17, 1945, Uncle Ho wrote: “If the country is independent, the people do not enjoy of happiness and freedom, independence has no meaning ”. Of the years of imprisonment in Tuong Gioi Thach Prison, Uncle Ho wrote: “In the world a thousand things are bitter / bitter, like losing freedom.” He went out looking for a way to save the country in June 1911. According to the documents, in 1912, the uncle stayed in Boston and worked as a hotel clerk. Boston is the cradle of the American Revolution for ideas of independence, freedom and democracy. President Ho Chi Minh traveled to three countries to observe life, work and study, to capture many great breakthrough ideas of the time in America and many other countries in the world. President Ho Chi Minh always emphasizes creativity and freedom of thought. Writer: “You must defend the style of independent thought and freedom of thought” … |
Thai An – Photography: Pham Hai
The value of freedom
Despite the changes over time, the great value of the August Revolution and the sacred aspirations of independence, freedom, democracy and social justice have always been maintained, always the desire to achieve.
