Secretary’s Letters, lot 56 D 459
Memorandum by the Secretary of State to the President1
Subject:
- Visit of Prime Minister of Viet-Nam
I recommend that an official invitation be extended about June 15 to the Prime Minister of Viet-Nam, Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, to visit Washington at your convenience during the summer or early autumn of 1953.
[Page 592]Mr. Nguyen Van Tam has been Prime Minister of Viet-Nam since June 1952, and has been responsible for a considerable strengthening of that government’s fight against the Communist forces seeking its destruction. He has been responsible for his government’s having more than doubled its previous defense budget, has made plans for a substantial augmentation of his National Army, has caused the first post war municipal elections to be held and is now engaged in sponsoring agricultural reform measures which should add substantially to the strength and popularity of his government.
An invitation for him to visit Washington as the official guest of this government would add to Viet-Nam’s international position as well as giving encouragement to the progressive measures which he is carrying out.2
- This memorandum was drafted by Robert E. Hoey, Officer in Charge of Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Affairs. The text was transmitted to Secretary Dulles for approval by Assistant Secretary Robertson with a covering memorandum of May 29, not printed. (Secretary’s Letters, lot 56 D 459)↩
- A note from Secretary Dulles (drafted by Special Assistant O’Connor) to the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs, June 10, indicates that President Eisenhower had approved proceeding with the invitation, having been informed by Dulles that the matter had been cleared with the French. (751G.13/6–1053)↩