751G.00/11–2354
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Counselor (MacArthur)
Subject:
- US–UK–French Meeting on Indochina
Participants:
- The Secretary
- Sir Roger Makins
- Mr. MacArthur
At the conclusion of a meeting this afternoon with the Secretary about other matters, Sir Roger Makins said he would like to touch base with the Secretary and find out where we stood with respect to the French request that the U.S., U.K. and France should hold discussions regarding Indochina. Sir Roger made reference to his note to the Secretary of November 19 enclosing a list of subjects which Sir Anthony [Page 2285] Eden considered might be discussed.1 He added that he had inquired briefly of Mendes-France just prior to the latter’s departure from Washington whether such tripartite meetings would be agreeable and Mendes-France had replied in the affirmative, saying he had discussed this briefly with Mr. Dulles. The Secretary asked Mr. MacArthur, who had had working level discussions with the French on this, to comment. Mr. MacArthur referred to the meeting held in his office on November 19 in which U.S., U.K. and the French participated.2 At that meeting, Sir Anthony Eden’s request (as outlined in Makins’ letter of November 19 to the Secretary) had been discussed. It was agreed that the letter raised two separate issues. The first was preparation for a meeting of the Manila Pact powers, and the second was the question of tripartite discussions on Indochina. With respect to such a tripartite meeting, Mr. MacArthur said that it was his impression that there had been general agreement that any such meeting should be at the technical or working group level rather than at a higher level. While he did not know the position of Mr. Robertson and our Far Eastern people with respect to such a meeting, he had heard no objections voiced to it if the French also were desirous of such a meeting. The Secretary commented that he perceived no objection to a tripartite working level meeting to exchange information on Indochina.
Mr. MacArthur recommended that, subject to the concurrence of Mr. Robertson, we would approach M. Millet of the French Embassy here and refer to the November 19 tripartite meeting in Mr. MacArthur’s office. We would inform him that the U.S. had no objection to a tripartite working group meeting at technical level here in Washington to exchange information on Indochina and that we had understood that M. Mendes-France had also given his concurrence to Sir Roger Makins. The meeting could then be set up at the mutual convenience of the participants. Mr. MacArthur recommended very strongly that no publicity be given to such a working group meeting. If it were given any publicity, it might be a cause of concern for the Vietnamese. (Subsequently, Mr. MacArthur told Sir Roger privately that a ticker report from London dated November 22 indicated that “according to authoritative sources”, a tripartite meeting on Vietnam would be held in Washington. Mr. MacArthur expressed the hops that the British would maintain a discreet silence.)
- The note of Nov. 19 is not printed. (751G.00/11–1954)↩
- For documentation on the meeting under reference, see volume xii.↩