Editorial Note
The NSC considered the Indochina situation at its meeting held on March 25, 1954. A section of the memorandum of discussion follows:
“After further discussion of the governments and nations who might be approached to assist the Associated States, the President said that he thought that such a grouping of nations would probably have to be confined to those nations in or near Southeast Asia itself. If an attempt were made to expand the number to include, for instance, Japan and Korea, we would run up against the hostility which exists between so many of the Asian nations. It would perhaps be better, therefore, to consider Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Formosa, the free nations of Southeast Asia, the [Page 400] British, and the French. That was enough, wasn’t it?” (Eisenhower Library, Eisenhower papers, Whitman file; memorandum drafted by Gleason on March 26.)
For full text of that part of the memorandum concerning Indochina, see volume XIII, Part 1, page 1163.