In his book Histoire d’une paix manquée (Story of a Lost Peace), published in 1953, Sainteny would speak of “his vast culture, his intelligence, his incredible energy, his asceticism,” and the incomparable prestige this gave him among the Vietnamese people. But Ho was also patient, Sainteny stressed, willing to maintain an association with France for some specified period: “He had struggled towards [independence] for 35 years; he could certainly wait a few years more.”11
