The origin of the idea to rename Saigon.

On May 12, 1975, Time magazine dedicated almost its entire issue to the most important event in the world at that time: the Vietnam War had ended.

The magazine cover features a portrait of President Ho Chi Minh, a red map of Vietnam, and the large headline: “The Victor”.

The entire map was red, with only a yellow star marking the location of Saigon, annotated as: "Ho Chi Minh City". The name itself, neatly placed on the map, was an affirmation of the war's outcome.

Many people were puzzled upon seeing the cover: it wasn't until July 1976 that the Vietnamese National Assembly officially renamed Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. Why did one of America's most prestigious magazines use this new name, less than two weeks after the end of the war? What was their basis for this?

Things become a little clearer when you know the name of Time's source at the time.

The only person remaining in Saigon to head Time's office was Pham Xuan An. This journalist refused to evacuate with his colleagues. And the reason is now clear: he was one of Hanoi's most important spies throughout the war.

It's not surprising that Pham Xuan An possessed information that no one else knew for sure.

But the legendary intelligence general never explained why Time magazine that day so confidently used a name that was only officially confirmed a year later.

So when was "Ho Chi Minh City" established?

Hanoi, Sunday, August 25, 1946, a beautiful autumn day. Red flags with yellow stars fluttered throughout the streets.

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam is about to celebrate its first anniversary. At the Grand Theatre and the Children's Garden (the exhibition hall located where the Children's Palace is now), tens of thousands of people are visiting exhibitions of photographs and art about the revolution.

By the lake, enthusiastic volunteers filled in bomb shelters to plant flowers. Everywhere, people were calling each other to meetings and rehearsals in preparation for the large rally celebrating the nation's birthday. In the newspapers, musician Luu Huu Phuoc announced the opening of the first children's singing class.

The sudden rain showers did not dampen the lively atmosphere.

On that day, an important idea was initiated: to rename Saigon - Gia Dinh to "Ho Chi Minh City".

On August 25, 1946, the Central Committee's Southern Office met on Gia Dinh Street, now Tran Nhat Duat Street. At that meeting, Dr. Tran Huu Nghiep proposed the idea of ​​naming Saigon - Gia Dinh after Ho Chi Minh. The idea was quickly embraced. The following day, 57 people from the South who were participating in the revolution sent a resolution to the National Assembly and the Government.

"We request that the National Assembly and the Government immediately change the name of Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City to symbolize the struggle, sacrifice, and resolute return to the Fatherland of the people of Southern Vietnam," the resolution stated.

57 people signed the petition, including Tran Huu Nghiep, Director of the Military Medical Department and a wealthy doctor who once owned a private hospital in My Tho, but abandoned his fame to follow the revolution; Tran Cong Tuong (a lawyer) who later became Deputy Minister of Justice; and Nguyen Tan Gi Trong (Deputy Director of the Military Medical Department) who later served as a member of the Vietnamese National Assembly for seven terms.

To understand the profile of those who came up with the idea of ​​renaming Saigon, Tran Huu Nghiep is a prime example.

After studying in France, Tran Huu Nghiep became a wealthy owner of a private hospital. "A sleek black Peugeot, a man with an intellectual appearance behind the wheel, wearing sunglasses, a neatly pressed silk shirt, and a colored tie; a private butler in the house"—that was the self-portrait he painted in his memoirs.

Tran Huu Nghiep's suffering stemmed from a single word: "Nation." The young man, studying in Paris, discovered that the only Vietnamese dictionary in circulation at the time, compiled by the Hanoi Association for the Promotion of Knowledge and Virtue, did not include the word "Nation" in the sense of "homeland" or "fatherland." "Did they ignore it, or intentionally forget?" the young man wondered.

Then Dr. Nghiep joined the Viet Minh and remained wholeheartedly devoted to the revolution for the rest of his life.

On August 27, 1946, the front page of the newspaper Cuu Quoc (National Salvation) ran with a large headline: "The city of Saigon will henceforth be renamed Ho Chi Minh City." A firm affirmation.

Ho Chi Minh – the man mentioned in the August 1946 resolution to rename Saigon – was more than 9,000 km from Hanoi, in a villa on the outskirts of Paris. Before the President of the fledgling republic lay a stalled negotiation – the Fontainebleau Conference.

The conference has been going on for over a month, since the beginning of July, and the Vietnamese and French government delegations are unable to continue talks. The head of the Vietnamese delegation, Pham Van Dong, does not accept the so-called "Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina" that France has just given the green light to establish in Indochina.

Three days earlier, on August 22, 1946, Ho Chi Minh had to meet directly with the French Minister of Overseas Territories, Marins Moutet, to discuss resuming negotiations. The newspaper Le Monde described Consul Sainteny as having to "run back and forth all day" between Minister Moutet's office on Oudinot Street and the villa where Ho Chi Minh was staying in the suburbs of Paris.

On August 28, 1946, the conference reconvened. Le Monde, after days of exhaustive analysis, dedicated a small news item to this event. “We should not expect a resumption of dialogue at Fontainebleau,” the newspaper wrote, without further explanation.

Le Monde's assessment serves as a direct explanation for the idea of ​​Dr. Tran Huu Nghiep and his colleagues.

President Ho Chi Minh visited the French government, a government that had persecuted him for decades, to seek a solution for Southern Vietnam. The most important objective of the Fontainebleau Conference was to agree on the timing and method of holding a referendum for the annexation of Southern Vietnam into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Saigon at that time was a center of uncertainty. On August 18th, a fire broke out in warehouses in the Khanh Hoi area, burning down an entire residential neighborhood. Occasionally, grenade explosions could be heard. Two French soldiers were assassinated. Leaflets calling for strikes were distributed. The French believed these events were instigated by "Viet Minh elements."

The Viet Minh responded that it was a natural reaction from the inhabitants of the occupied South, just as the French had reacted to the Germans a few years earlier.

In mid-September 1946, the Fontainebleau Conference concluded. No results were achieved regarding Vietnam's independence or the issue of Cochinchina. "Un grain de sable peut entraver la marche d'une machine" (A single grain of sand can stop the entire machine) – Ho Chi Minh summarized the conference's outcome in an interview with the French press.

That machine was called Peace. It was delayed in Indochina for the next 30 years. Two months after the conference, the shootout at the Hai Phong Grand Theatre marked the beginning of the First Indochina War.

The soldiers on the B battlefield said they couldn't remember exactly when the name Ho Chi Minh City first entered their minds. They only knew that the city had been called that long before liberation.

On Liberation Day, coincidentally, Hanoi newspapers simultaneously referred to Saigon by its new name: Ho Chi Minh City.

Journalist Tran Mai Hanh, one of the first journalists present at the Independence Palace on the morning of April 30th, recounted that the name spontaneously came to mind when he witnessed the stream of people carrying the red flag with a yellow star in the city center. Mai Hanh's report, published in the Nhan Dan newspaper on May 2nd, 1975, is typical of the mixed terminology used during those days: “…from the northwest, along Highway 1, we advanced into the center of Saigon. Ho Chi Minh City appeared before our eyes…”.

Previously, Nhan Dan newspaper used both names, "Saigon" and "Ho Chi Minh City," simultaneously in its news reports. Hanoi Moi newspaper, in its May 1st issue, also used both names on its front page.

At that time, no decision had been made regarding the new name for Saigon. In the first administrative decisions of the forces that took over the city, the place was still referred to as "Saigon - Gia Dinh".

Around the same time, the song "The Song from the City Named After a Person" was broadcast and became famous. Poet Dang Trung, who wrote the lyrics for the song, said he got the idea from a poem by To Huu written in 1954 - 20 years before reunification.

In July 1976, the Vietnamese National Assembly convened and decided to rename Saigon, giving it its official name today.

It was July 3, 1976 – the day before the 200th anniversary of America's Independence Day. The front page of The New York Times featured a short news item, citing the Associated Press, stating, "North and South Vietnam have officially been unified."

The New York Times' main article, accompanied by a cover photo that day, was dedicated to a performance celebrating Independence Day on New York Harbor.

A cover page that clearly evokes the idea of ​​peace.
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According to Le Monde; Cuu Quoc; Nhan Dan; Tran Huu Nghiep's memoirs (1993); The New York Times

Photos: History.com; The New York Times; Flickr (Common Creative Commons license); TIME; Marc Riboud

According to Vnexpress