Rhetoric of Revolt: Ho Chi Minh's Discourse for Revolution

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Details Ho Chi Minh's use of a unique form of nonWestern reconstitutive discourse to sustain a 30-year national movement. The success of Vietnam's August Revolution of 1945 can be attributed in part to Ho Chi Minh's "reconstitutive rhetoric," a form of rhetorical discourse that gave the Vietnamese people a new sense of identification. This reawakened identity in tum influenced a renewed demand for nationalism and independence. This study explores the reconstitutive rhetoric of Ho Chi Minh. In doing so, it advances rhetorical theory founded on nonWestern premises and examines the cultural differences responsible for creating a rhetoric whose focus is nonEurocentric. Most current thinking on reconstitutive discourse has focused on Western premises. Decaro challenges some of these premises and adds a new dimension to reconstitutive understanding. Ho Chi Minh utilized the cultural heritage of the Vietnamese people as a means of creating his persona--a powerful aspect of his ability to persuade. In understanding Ho Chi Minh's unique form of discourse, it is then possible to see how he was able to unify his country in order to sustain a protracted conflict with the goal of securing national independence.

Author Bio

PETER A. DECARO teaches in the Department of Communication Studies at California State University, Stanislaus.