Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Indochina, Volume XIII, Part 2

Eisenhower Library, James C. Hagerty papers

Hagerty Diary, Tuesday, July 20, 1954

[Extract]

[Washington, undated.]

In at 8:15.

Dulles called me in the morning to give me a fill-in for the President on the Geneva Conference.¹ He had just finished talking with Bedell Smith in Geneva and reported that the Russians were pressing us hard to have us join in agreeing to the settlement. Dulles said that we would not agree to do so and would probably issue a unilateral declaration noting the decision of the Conference and saying that under Article II of the United Nations Charter we would abide by it and not use force to upset it. He said that as he was calling me, Mendes-France was still meeting with Molotov in Geneva and that from the information he had received from Bedell, the settlement would obtain the following provisions:

1. French evacuation of the Tonkin Delta in 200 or 250 days.

2. Partition of Viet Nam slightly above the Seventeenth Parallel and above Road #9, which is important for transportation across the country.

3. General elections in June of 1956.

4. A Control Commission composed of Poland, India and Canada. Dulles said that such a Commission was not particularly advantageous to us but that if the Commission were given veto power, Canada could at least vote against Poland and India, and this would probably be to our advantage in the long run.

He said that he did not expect any final decision to be reached until late tonight, probably after seven o’clock our time, which would be after midnight there (beyond the expiration of Mendes-France’s deadline). Dulles said that he thought, however, that he would be able to supply the President with enough information and material for his press conference tomorrow.

I reported this to the President and we agreed to go through with the press conference although we postponed it from 10:30 to 11:30 to provide us with more time to get the material from the State Department.

At seven o’clock in the evening Dulles called me again and said that he had had another talk with Smith at Geneva and that at the present time it looked as if the settlement would be delayed at least two or three hours² and that he planned to have the State Department working group at his house at 5:30 tomorrow morning in order to get to us in time a statement for use by the President at his press conference.

Dulles reported that the principal documents on the settlement which had been given to Bedell Smith [“] looked as if we could take note of them as I outlined to you this morning.” He reported, however, that in the principal settlement documents there were many cross references to military agreements and that the translation of these military agreements had just started and he would not be in a position to know all they contained until much later. He said also that the plenary session would not be held until tomorrow and would probably start at about the time the President would be in the press conference. He thought, however, that he would be able to give the President his judgment on these matters by 10: 30 tomorrow morning.

The President was out on the putting green with David and I reported this conversation to him. He said that everything seemed to be going reasonably well and that he would hold his press conference at 11:30.³

. . . . . . .

1. The Secretary of State’s office record of a telephone conversation with Hagerty at 9:07 a.m. read as follows: “Telephone call from Mr. Hagerty. The Sec. said it is all right for the Pres. to have his press conference tomorrow. He repeated what he had told the Pres. Things will be decided today. We should work something up for the Pres. press conference.” (Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, “Telephone Conversations”) This is presumably the same conversation described here by Hagerty.
2. Regarding the telephone conversations between Secretary Dulles and Under Secretary Smith which occurred at 6: 20 p.m. and 6: 43 p.m. Washington time, see editorial note, vol. xvi, p. 1478. The Secretary’s office record of his conversation with Hagerty at 6:54 p.m. (erroneously dated July 21) is in the Dulles papers at the Eisenhower Library.
3. Regarding the Geneva Agreement concluded on the night of July 20–21, see editorial note, p. 1859. For the President’s press conference statement of July 21, see editorial note, p. 1864.