Organisers of Independence Day Must Be Cultural Officials

The task came with barely four days to prepare. On August 28, 1945, Hồ Chí Minh summoned Nguyễn Hữu Đang and asked him to organise the ceremony planned for September 2, which would feature the provisional government’s public debut and the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

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The coming September 2 will officially be called Independence Day. On this occasion, Uncle Hồ will represent the government in reading the Declaration of Independence, opening a new era for the country.

The recollection comes from the memoir of Trần Quốc Huong, a former head of Vietnam’s Central Commission for Internal Affairs, about General Secretary Trường Chinh. Huong said the central party leadership wanted the Vietnam National Salvation Cultural Association to take responsibility because the event’s organisation should be led by cultural officials.

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The provisional government has decided to hold a ceremony presenting itself to the people on September 2. Can you undertake organising it?

Trường Chinh asked Huong to identify someone capable of handling the assignment. Huong proposed several names, including Nguyễn Hữu Đang, a journalist and activist who had worked in the Popular Education movement, joined the cultural association at its founding and had recently returned from the Tân Trào National Congress after being detained by the French.

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The task you have given me is too difficult because the deadline is too close.

Đang later described his meeting with Hồ Chí Minh. Nguyễn Văn Tố, the minister responsible for relief, brought him to see Hồ, who asked whether he could organise the ceremony in just four days. Đang replied that the assignment was extremely difficult because of the short deadline. Hồ answered: “It is precisely because it is difficult that I assign it to you.” Đang accepted and promised to do his utmost. The first major task, according to the memoir, was to build a large and dignified Independence Day stage at Ba Đình Square.

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It is precisely because it is difficult that I assign it to you.