Editorial Note
During the night of July 20–21, 1954, separate bilateral cease-fire agreements for Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were concluded at the [Page 1860] Geneva Conference. An unsigned Final Declaration was issued by the Conference on July 21. In addition, unilateral declarations were made by the Delegations of Cambodia, Laos, and France with respect to provisions of the settlement. The agreements for cessation of hostilities, the Final Declaration, and the unilateral declarations constituted the Agreements of the Geneva Conference. For texts, see volume XVI, pages 1505 ff.
At the Eighth and final Plenary Session on Indochina, July 21, Under Secretary of State Walter Bedell Smith made the following declaration on behalf of the United States:
“The Government of the United States being resolved to devote its efforts to the strengthening of peace in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations takes note of the agreements concluded at Geneva on July 20 and 21, 1954 between (a) the Franco-Laotian Command and the Command of the People’s Army of Vietnam; (b) the Royal Khmer Army Command and the Command of the People’s Army of Vietnam; (c) Franco-Vietnamese Command and the Command of the People’s Army of Vietnam and of paragraphs 1 to 12 inclusive of the declaration presented to the Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954, declares with regard to the aforesaid agreements and paragraphs that (i) it will refrain from the threat or the use of force to disturb them, in accordance with Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations dealing with the obligation of members to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force; and (ii) it would view any renewal of the aggression in violation of the aforesaid agreements with grave concern and as seriously threatening international peace and security.
“In connection with the statement in the declaration concerning free elections in Vietnam my Government wishes to make clear its position which it has expressed in a declaration made in Washington on June 29, 1954, as follows:
‘In the case of nations now divided against their will, we shall continue to seek to achieve unity through free elections supervised by the United Nations to insure that they are conducted fairly.’
“With respect to the statement made by the representative of the State of Vietnam, the United States reiterates its traditional position that peoples are entitled to determine their own future and that it will not join in an arrangement which would hinder this. Nothing in its declaration just made is intended to or does indicate any departure from this traditional position.
“We share the hope that the agreements will permit Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to play their part, in full independence and sovereignty, in the peaceful community of nations, and will enable the peoples of that area to determine their own future.” (Conference files, lot 60 D 627, CF 277)
The June 29, 1954, declaration quoted above was issued by President Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Churchill at the conclusion of their conversations at Washington; see editorial note, page 1751. The [Page 1861] statement by Tran Van Do, representative of the State of Vietnam, mentioned in the United States declaration, was also delivered at the Eighth Plenary Session on Indochina. The Vietnamese statement protested the agreement to partition the country.
For additional documentation concerning the declaration by the United States and the conclusion of the Geneva Conference, see volume XVI, pages 1497 ff.