NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
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- Communist China. A UN action is not desirable. Unilateral intervention (Alterns. A or C) might be politically difficult at home and abroad.)
- d. When and under what circumstances should the decision to intervene be taken and carried into effect?
- (The report says — par. 7-c, page 7 — "on balance, it appears that the U.S. should now reach a decision whether or not to intervene with combat forces, if that is necessary to save Indo-China from Communist control and, tentatively, the form and condition of such intervention." The real issue, however, in light of the French request for urgent help at Dien Bien Phu, is that the Council must decide whether it is essential to intervene now with little or no time to (1) work out arrangements with the French (including acceptance of conditions, command arrangements, etc.), (2) condition public and Congressional opinion — intervention may involve our drafting men for Indo-China where the French have never yet sent a conscript — and (3) try to prepare a regional type arrangement. Decision to act later may take care of these difficulties but might come too late to save Dien Bien Phu.)
COMMENTS
4. In reaching any decision the Council should affirmatively decide that regardless of the numbers or types of U.S. military forces initially involved once the U.S. physically intervenes we must be prepared to expend whatever resources are necessary to secure victory. Involved are increased risks of Chinese Communist intervention or general war, steps to prepare the U.S. to meet these increased risks, and reversal of plans to reduce the size of U.S. armed forces.
5. The views of the Service Secretaries and the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be available at the Armed Forces Policy Council meeting at 11:30 a.m., 6 April.
6. [An associated problem is that the U.S. has accepted an invitation to meet with the French on 12 April 1954 to exchange views on Indo-China, preparatory to the Geneva Conference. It is important that the U.S. representation at this meeting be at a high level (at least Mr. Robertson), with Department of Defense representation.]
RECOMMENDATIONS
- 7. It is recommended that you:
- a. Agree that the U.S. must intervene if necessary to avoid the loss of Indo-China, but advocate that no steps be left untaken to get the French to achieve a successful conclusion of the war on their own.
- b. Support Alternative. B (regional grouping with maximum Asian participation) as the best of the alternatives for intervention, subject to discussion in the AFPC.
- c. Base your decision as to whether immediate intervention at Dien Bien Phu should be approved on the results of discussion in the AFPC.
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