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Ho Chi Minh’s lesson in finding people with talent and integrity
🇻🇳 Vietnam /Elections & Politics

Ho Chi Minh’s lesson in finding people with talent and integrity

From Thanh Niên · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • A Thanh Nien account presents Ho Chi Minh’s approach to recruiting people with talent and integrity for national reconstruction.
  • In 1945, Ho Chi Minh called on citizens with skills and practical ideas to submit plans to the government.
  • He later urged officials to invite scholar Huynh Thuc Khang to join the government, and Khang became interior minister on March 2, 1946.

Finding people with both ability and integrity should be a regular and continuous responsibility, according to a lesson drawn from Ho Chi Minh’s early efforts to build Vietnam’s government.

A November 14, 1945 article by Ho Chi Minh, published in the newspaper Cuu Quoc under the title “Talent and National Construction,” argued that national development required capable people. He called on citizens with skills and practical ideas to send clear plans to the government, promising that workable proposals would be carefully studied and implemented.

National construction requires talented people. Our country may not have many talented people yet, but if we select, assign and use them skillfully, their number will continue to grow.

— Ho Chi MinhThis passage from his 1945 article explains why recruiting capable people was essential to national reconstruction.

The account also recalls how General Secretary Truong Chinh proposed inviting Huynh Thuc Khang, a respected scholar and former official, to become interior minister. Ho Chi Minh agreed to discuss the proposal with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hai Than, who also supported it.

We therefore hope that any of our compatriots who have talent and ideas for this work, and who are eager to help the country, will send the government a clear plan.

— Ho Chi MinhHe invited citizens to submit practical proposals for the government to consider.

Officials initially reported that Huynh might be difficult to persuade. Trần Quốc Hương recalled that some colleagues believed Huynh took pride in his home region’s reputation and disapproved of certain social changes. When Hương hesitated over whether to pass that information to Ho Chi Minh, Truong Chinh told him to report the facts.

After hearing the report, Ho Chi Minh asked whether Huynh was a patriot and questioned why a patriotic party with the right political line could not persuade him. He ordered another urgent invitation, issued jointly by himself and Nguyen Hai Than. Huynh then traveled to Hanoi, met Ho Chi Minh and accepted the post of interior minister on March 2, 1946.

Our party is a patriotic party. Do you believe Huynh is a patriot? Why, if our party is patriotic and has the right policy, can we not persuade him?

— Ho Chi MinhHe challenged officials after learning that Huynh might be reluctant to join the government.
About this summary

Originally published by Thanh Niên in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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