ABSTRACT
In Hanoi Square, before a crowd estimated at half a million people, Ho Chi Minh read out the ''Declaration of Independence.'' Despite the Viet Minh's leadership being predominantly communist, the Vietnamese Declaration drew heavily from the American Declaration of Independence. This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. The truth is that we have wrested our independence from the Japanese and not from the French. The French have fled, the Japanese have capitulated, Emperor Bao Dai has abdicated. The whole Vietnamese people, animated by a common purpose, are determined to fight to the bitter end against any attempt by the French colonialists to reconquer their country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.
