751G.00/4–2454
Memorandum of Conversation, by Ambassador Donald R. Heath1
Participants:
- Bao Dai
- The Secretary
- Mr. Robertson
- Ambassador Heath
Bao Dai received the Secretary, accompanied by Assistant Secretary Robertson and Ambassador Heath at 11 o’clock this morning. The Secretary expressed American sympathy with the plight of the Vietnamese people in the war and Bao Dai expressed Vietnamese appreciation of American morale and material support of his country at war.
The Secretary stated his understanding that Vietnam and France had practically reached agreement in their present negotiations. Bao Dai said that was true as regards the political clauses; the French had recognized Vietnamese independence and Vietnam had agreed to enter the French Union. Bao Dai had tried without success to persuade the French to sign the political accords before the opening of the Geneva Conference but the French Government insisted that, in view of Parliamentary opinion, it would be impossible formally to sign them until the agreement and signature had been obtained on the subsidiary (financial) conventions. Bao Dai said he had reluctantly agreed to this because he appreciated the difficult political situation in which the French Government found itself. Had he insisted he would have met with a flat refusal. It was regrettable that the French Government had taken this stand because it might take months to negotiate the subsidiary technical conventions.
The Secretary said that the present attitude of the French Government seemed to be for a prompt cease fire and asked Bao Dai what Vietnam would do if the French ceased their military effort in Indochina.
Bao Dai replied that as he had frequently stated to Ambassador Heath, the Vietnamese army and the Vietnamese people would carry on the fight, but they would require friends to give them the means to carry on the battle. To the Secretary’s question, “What means would be required?”, Bao Dai replied “armament”.
[Page 1385]Bao Dai went on to say that while it was possible, although he could not believe it, that Dien-Bien-Phu would be the last battle which the French would fight, that the Vietnamese people had not yet fought their own Dien-Bien-Phu. He asserted that there was no question that the Vietnamese National Army was ready and determined to fight on to victory against Communism. He referred to a recent ceremony at Hanoi, where hundreds of Vietnamese officers had taken the oath, not merely of allegiance to him, but to carry on the fight to victory. He said that that ceremony had created a very favorable wave of public opinion in Vietnam.
The withdrawal of the French, if it indeed occurred, would make the problem of recruiting and build up of the national army easier to solve.
Up to now the Vietminh had had a propaganda advantage. They could assert that they were fighting for the independence of Vietnam and for throwing out the “aggressors” (the French). In the government controlled territories there was still some confusion in view of the presence of French troops, whether Bao Dai’s forces were indeed fighting for Vietnam or for the French. With French withdrawal this would disappear.
While there had been a few difficulties, not important ones, in the south, in north Vietnam the overwhelming sentiment was to fight against Communism. Before coming to France he had consulted with political leaders of all parts of Vietnam. Their unanimous opinion was that Vietnam must carry on the fight to victory, subject to the condition, however, that they find “friends” among foreign countries to support them in that effort.
The Secretary raised the question of Vietnam’s participation in the Geneva conference. Bao Dai said that of course Vietnam would accept an invitation to participate in the conference on the basis of the equality and recognition that she was a fully sovereign and independent state. However, if the conference decided to invite the Viet Minh, that would create “a delicate situation” since the Viet Minh were not a “state” but merely rebels.
He had asked the French to call a meeting of the High Council of the French Union before the Geneva Conference but had just received an evasive reply from the French that it would be difficult to convoke such a meeting at the present time.
Mr. Robertson urged that it was very necessary in Vietnam’s own interest that she be represented at the conference.
Heath, Ambassador at Saigon, was at Paris for discussions prior to the Geneva Conference, which opened on Apr. 26. He was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Conference.
A summary of this conversation was transmitted in telegram Secto 10 from Paris, Apr. 24. (751G.00/4–2454)
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