On Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:24:58 -0800, Neville M Wiles
wrote:

Everyone forgets
that when he first tried to get the French out of Indochina, Ho Chi Minh
*first* approached the US, only to be rebuffed. He may have embraced
Marxist ideology out of expediency, but mainly he was a nationalist who
wanted western powers out of Vietnam.

I had an instructor in college that was a French-English translator
for the OSS who translated the meetings between the US reps and Uncle
Ho when he was asking the US for arms to kick the Japanese out during
WWII. Apparently US reps decided not to supply him arms after coming
to the conclusion that he would also use them to kick the French out
after kicking the Japanese out.

My instructor indicated the situation EXACTLY as you say.
Dave