Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
032054 ALSOP REPORTED THAT GENERAL ELY SAID IN WASHINGTON THAT FRANCE COULD NOT WIN WITH THE MEANS AT HAND AND MUST THEREFORE SEEK A NEGOTIATED PEACE BUT THE U.S. COULD NOT ACCEPT THIS BECAUSE THERE WAS NO FIGHTING IN INDOCHINA, AS IN KOREA. THE ENEMY WAS EVERYWHERE, SO IF THE FRENCH WITHDREW, ANY NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT MUST LEAD RAPIDLY TO TOTAL COMMUNIST CONTROL. /FLEM-CWO.
032254 ADMIRAL ARTHUR RADFORD, CHAIRMAN OF JCS, DECLARED THAT THE FRENCH WERE GOING TO WIN THIS WAR. /FLEM-CWO.
032454 THE PRESIDENT OF U.S. PRAISED THE HEROISM OF THE FRENCH FORCES AND DECLARED THAT COMMUNIST AGGRESSION WAS BEING FOUGHT IN INDOCHINA. COMMUNIST AGGRESSION WAS THE STOCK PHRASE USED IN WASHINGTON TO THE INDOCHINA WAR. /FLEM-CWO.
032954 DULLES MADE A SPEECH APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT IN ADVANCE, DECLARING THAT COMMUNIST DOMINATION OF INDOCHINA AND SOUTH EAST ASIA BY WHATEVER WOULD BE A GRAVE THREAT TO THE FREE COMMUNITY AND SHOULD DOT BE PASSIVELY ACCEPTED. IN THESE WORDS HE RULED OUT EVEN A FREE ELECTION AS A MEANS OF LEGITIMIZING THE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT OF HO CHI MINH IN INDOCHINA, STRESSING INSTEAD THE RICHES OF THE AREA AND ITS GREAT STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE. REACTION IN SAIGON WAS U.S. UNPOPULAR. /FLEM-CWO CHECK FLEM-CWO PG 689 NOTE 99
0454 GENERAL O'DNAIEL WAS ASSIGNED PERMANENTLY TO INDOCHINA. /JCS HIST.
040354 IN WASHINGTON A SECRET CONFERENCE WAS HELD IN WHICH DULLES AND RADFORD TRIED TO PERSUADE EIGHT LEADERS OF CONGRESS TO AGREE TO SUPPORT A CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING OUR ENTRY INTO THE INDOCHINA WAR. THE MEETING WAS CALLED BY AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT. THE LEGISLATORS PRESENT WERE SEN. WILLIAM F. KNOWLAND, SEN. EUGENE MILLIMAN, SEN. LYNDON JOHNSON, SEN. RICHARD B. RUSSELL, SEN. EARL C. CLEMENTS, HOUSE SPEAKER JOSEPH MARTIN, REP. JOHN H. MC CORMACK, AND REP. J. PERCY PRIEST. RADFORD WANTED TO SEND 200 PLANES FROM THE CARRIERS ESSEX AND WHICH HE HAD READY IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, PLUS OTHER PLANES FROM THE PHILIPPINES, TO SAVE DIEN BIEN PHU. QUESTIONING BROUGHT OUT THAT NONE OF THE OTHER THREE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF APPROVED OF THE IDEA. RADFORD SAID THIS WAS BECAUSE HE HAD SPENT MORE TIME IN THE FAR EAST TITAN ANY OF THEM AND SO HE UNDERSTOOD THE SITUATION BETTER. /FLEM-CWO.
040754 PRES. EISENHOWER USED THE ROW OF DOMINIES THEORY AT A PRESS CONFERENCE. /GETTLEMAN P. 100
041354 IN A MEMO FROM JCS TO SEC. DEF. IT WAS STATED THAT THE ARMY WAS CURRENTLY CAPABLE OF ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING INTERNAL SECURITY AGAINST DISSIDENTS AND BANDITS BUT NOT AGAINST VIETMINH ALL OUT AGGRESSION UNDER DRV DIRECTION.
041554 ADMIRAL RADFORD, CHAIRMAN OF JCS SAID IN A SPEECH THAT INDOCHINA'S LOSS WOULD BE THE PRELUDE TO THE LOSS OF ALL SOUTHEAST ASIA AND A THREAT TO A FAR WIDER AREA. /GETTLEMAN P.100
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