751G.5 MSP/7–2454: Telegram
The Ambassador at Saigon (Heath) to the Department of State
307. Repeated information Paris 115, Hanoi unnumbered. Last night General Hinh asked McClintock to see him. He said that morning he had received permission from Prime Minister Diem to establish informal contact with some member of this Embassy with a view to discussing prospects for securing direct US aid both in military equipment and assistance, as well as straight economic aid. Hinh asked what US attitude would be on this question in light of cease-fire agreements and new relationships between Vietnam and France.
McClintock replied that while he personally had long favored direct aid to all three Indochinese states, question was difficult one and we were too close to signature of cease-fire agreements to be able to render off-the-cuff opinions. If, as Under Secretary had once suggested to Bao Dai (cf. Secto 652 repeated information Paris 93, Saigon 62 [Page 1877] July 18),1 Vietnam established an autonomous army, it might be logical step to supply that army directly rather than through French channel. However, on the other hand, there was problem of limitations imposed by armistice agreement on Vietnam and it might be necessary to resort to oblique approach.
Hinh said that yesterday morning General Ely had proposed that Hinh take command of all Vietnamese forces in south. Hinh said he had rejected this suggestion saying that, since he had been Commander-in-Chief of all Vietnamese Armed Forces, he did not wish now to accept command of approximately half of these forces. Instead he proposed that all Vietnamese troops, whether now serving in French Union Forces or National Army, be consolidated in one force under Vietnamese command. He proposed to weed out unreliable elements, including number of recent conscripts, and after this purification to build up an army of moderate size but of well-tried veterans.
Hinh had expansive ideas on building up Vietnamese Air Force and talked grandly of jets. McClintock pointed out that under armistice agreement it would be almost impossible to think of bringing jet aircraft into this theatre in replacement of present piston-driven aircraft and added word of advice that if Hinh could buckle down and make real army of foot soldiers, perhaps his requirement for air defense would never materialize.
- For text of telegram Secto 652 from Geneva, July 18, reporting on a conversation between Under Secretary Smith and Vietnamese officials, see vol. xvi, p. 1426.↩