Vietnam’s most honored leader is by far Ho Chi Minh who is responsible for leading Vietnam in fighting the Japanese during WWII, defeating French colonialists, and reunifying the country after the Vietnam War. After traveling abroad in France and the Soviet Union, Ho Chi Minh brought communist ideology back to Vietnam and began the communist party that endures today. Though he died in 1969 before the Vietnam War ended, his leadership during the war was a strong factor in victory for the north.