Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Indochina, Volume XIII, Part 1

751G.00/5–953: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Dillon) to the Department of State

secret

Paris, May 9, 1953—8 p.m.

5883. Repeated information Cairo 56.¹ Eyes only for the Secretary from Ambassador. I received the President’s letter of May 6 contained Deptel 5522 Friday noon² and took first opportunity to discuss substance of letter with Mayer. Talk took place Saturday afternoon after public announcement of General Navarre’s appointment as Commanding General for Indochina.³ I told Mayer that the President had hoped that a “forceful and inspirational” leader would be appointed promptly but omitted all references to personalities except to say that the President had indicated that a man of the type of General Guillaume would have been ideal. Mayer then asked me to convey the following to the President:

General Guillaume would have been an ideal choice but recently his health had not been good. This factor even more than the difficulty of replacing him in Morocco had ruled him out of consideration.

General Valluy who was also considered had been ruled out due to difficulties he would have in working smoothly with Vietnamese forces. General Valluy had been in Indochina previously and at one time in 1946 had had to take strong measures at Haiphong that made him very unpopular with local population. Commanding General Indochina should preferably be a man with no previous experience in Indochina as was case with De Lattre. General Navarre was my personal choice. I knew him when he served in Germany under General Koenig and when he served in Algeria. I feel he is forceful and strong leader who will see things objectively and will accurately appraise and report the over-all military situation. General Navarre is also a leading expert on intelligence which has been outstanding weakness of French forces in Indochina.

Regarding second point concerning self rule for Indochina, Mayer said to tell President that he would insert a paragraph or two in his speech to the Assembly on Tuesday⁴ along lines suggested by President. He will also repeat this thought publicly at every appropriate time. He also said to tell the President that he and Auriol had taken a personal hand to bring negotiations with Cambodia to successful conclusion which reached today.⁵ He felt that announcement of this success should also help to prove France’s good faith in working toward self government for Indochina.

Dillon

1. Secretary of State Dulles and Mutual Security Director Stassen visited the Near East from May 9 to May 29. Their first stop was Cairo.
2. Telegram 5522 to Paris of Thursday, May 7, is printed on p. 550.
3. On May 9, the French Government announced the appointment of Gen. Henri Navarre as Commander in Chief in Indochina. General Navarre had previously served as Chief of Staff to Marshal Alphonse Juin, Commander of Allied Land Forces in Central Europe.
4. Mayer delivered a statement of general policy in the National Assembly on Tuesday, May 12. For text, see France, Journal Officiel, Assemblée Nationale, 1953, Débats, pp. 2639–2643.
5. Reference is to the Franco-Cambodian provisional agreement signed at Paris on May 9. The agreement, which was negotiated by a Cambodian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Penn Nouth, and the French Ministry for the Associated States was submitted to the two governments for ratification. Under its terms, the King of Cambodia became Commander in Chief of the Cambodian Army and assumed responsibility for the nation’s security. For the text of the communiqué issued on May 9 specifying the provisions of the agreement, see L’Année Politique, 1953, p. 576. For additional documentation on these negotiations, see Cambodia, Livre Jaune, I, pp. 73–112.