Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the North Vietnamese when war with America broke out. Ho Chi Minh was born in 1890 into a relatively well-off family in relative terms to other families in Indo-China. His father, Nguyen Sinh Huy, was a teacher. However, Nguyen refused to learn French. The ruling French government required this. He lost any chance of teaching in schools run by the French in Vietnam and he was forced into travelling around Vietnam offering peasants his services. An educated man, Nguyen would write letters for the poor and provide the most basic of medical care. He did not receive much money from this work and it brought him into contact with the very poor of Vietnam’s society.