Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part V. B. 2. a.djvu/6

Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011

 

V.B.2

JUSTIFICATION OF THE WAR -- INTERNAL COMMITMENTS

The Truman Administration, 1945 – 1952

Contents and

Chronological List of Documents

	1945	Page
1.	Extract of minutes of State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC) held 13 April: Mr. Lovett states that "the lack of a policy [on Indochina] is a source of serious embarrassment to the military." The Committee agreed that the State Department should take up the question of clarification of policy on Indochina. Memorandum, R. E. Cox, SWNCC, to Mr. Bonbright - Minutes, 23 May (13 April) 1945	1
2.	Secretary of State Stettinius informs Ambassador Caffery (France) on the status of U.S. assistance to French resistance groups in Indochina, Stettinius 1576 to Caffery (Paris), 19 April 1945	3
3.	The U.S. rejects a French proposal to conclude an agreement with the French Provisional Government analogous to the Franco-Allied agreement of 25 August 1944. The U.S. refuses to consider diversion of resources to specific military operations in Indochina. Stettinius letter to French Ambassador Bonnet, 20 April 1945	5
4.	The State Department undertakes an internal task to clarify U.S. policy toward Indochina following President Roosevelt's death, 12 April 1945, and the SWNCC meeting, 13 April 1945. A summary of how the State Department documented this task and the pertinent documents follow as 4.a. through 4.e.	9
	a. Division of European Affairs (EUR) submits a proposed "Memorandum on Indochina Policy" to the Assistant Secretary for forwarding to the President. The memorandum recommends that the U.S. not oppose restoration of Indochina to France. H. Freeman Matthews, EUR, Memorandum, to Mr. Dunn, Assistant Secretary of State, 20 April 1945	9