Saturday, February 28, 2026

Thursday, February 28, 1946. Ho Chi Minh asks Truman for help.

Putative President of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh telegrammed President Truman and asked him to dissuade France from returning troops to French Indochina. Truman did not reply.

Ho in 1946.

FDR would have almost certainly taken the opposite position from Truman, who supported France, and quietly have opposed France resuming colonial occupation of Indochina.

Ho was, of course, a Communist, so the rosy spin on the historical counterfactual here probably isn't all that warranted.

Béla Imrédy, age 54, former Prime Minister of Hungary from 1938 to 1939, was executed by firing squad for collaboration with the Nazis.

Last edition:

Wednesday, February 27, 1946. What is Russia up to now?

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