Office of the Historian

751G.00/3–2652

Briefing Paper for the Under Secretary of State (Bruce)1

top secret
[Washington,] March 26, 1952.

Indochina

1.
Military Aid—293 million dollars has been requested for FY ’53 for Indochina. If granted this will bring the total appropriation for this area since 1950 to over 600 million dollars. The flow of US matériel is satisfactory, but French inability to supply cadres and funds for troop pay and maintenance may reduce the expansion of the Vietnam national army during the current calendar year to an additional two divisions instead of an additional four as was originally planned. Present force is four divisions plus irregulars.
2.
Military Situation—The military situation has not changed significantly during the past month. A gradual clean-up within the Hanoi perimeter is progressing slowly. There have been no Viet Minh attacks by other than small units. The flow of military aid from China continues with reported Soviet material including mortars and trucks. There is some evidence that French troops have been returned to France, over and above the normal rotation.
3.
Internal Political Situation–Tran Van Huu was installed on March 8, 1950 as Prime Minister of a reshuffled cabinet which in general showed some improvement over the previous one. Huu maintains the Defense and Finance portfolios. A Deputy Minister of Defense has been appointed as well as a Vietnamese Army Chief of Staff.
4.
External Political Affairs—The most serious recent development has been the receipt on March 15 of a memorandum from the British Embassy, Washington, alleging that: (a) The French are seeking a negotiated peace and have recently been in touch with the Viet Minh for that purpose, (b) are seeking Russian mediation to arrange a truce and (c) have apparently approached the Chinese Communist Legation in Bern for a similar purpose. The Secretary proposes to discuss this matter with the British Ambassador in the near future. We have no evidence that any of the British allegations are true.
  1. This memorandum was prepared by Robert E. Hoey. Officer in Charge of Vietnam—Laos—Cambodia Affairs. It was one of several briefing papers on Far Eastern subjects transmitted to the incoming Under Secretary of State by John M. Allison, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, on Mar. 27.↩