Death of Ho Chi Minh:
With the outcome of the Vietnam War still in question, Ho Chi Minh died on the morning of 2 Sept. 1969, at his home in Hanoi at age 79 from heart failure.
News of his death was withheld from the North Vietnamese public for nearly 48 hours due to not wanting to announce his death on anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He was not initially replaced as President , but a "collective leadership" forming up of several ministers and military leadrs took control of North Vietnam to continue his goal of conquering South Vietnam to unite it under Ho's founding Govt.
Six years after his death, when the Communists were successful in conquering South Vietnam , several North Vietnamese tanks in Saigon displayed a poster with the following quote " You are always marching with us , Uncle Ho.
Legacy;
The former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh city on May 1, 1975 shortly after its capture which officially ended the war.
Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body is on display in a granite mausoleum modeled after Lenin's Tomb in Moscow. This is similar to other Communist leaders who have been but the "honor" violated Ho's last wishes . Several months before his death he wished that he should be buried in three urns on three different hill tops of Vietnam (north, central and the south). He wrote " not only is cremation good from the point of view of hygiene but also it saves farmland."
The Ho Chi Minh museum in hanoi is dedicated to his life.
He is still refered to as "Uncle Ho"
