Editorial Note
Vice President Nixon made the following diary note on President Eisenhower’s meeting of April 26, 1954, with Republican Congressional leaders:
“Charlie Halleck, during the course of the discussion, said that the suggestion that American boys might be sent to Indochina ‘had really hurt,’ and that he hoped there would be no more talk of that type. The President, however, immediately stepped in and said he felt it was important that we not show a weakness at this critical time and that we not let the Russians think that we might not resist in the event that the Communists attempted to step up their present tactics in Indochina and elsewhere. He said that we had to think of whether it was best to take a strong stand now when we could or wait until later when we could not. He also pointed out that it was not well to tell the Russians everything as to what we would or would not do.” (Memoirs of Richard Nixon, page 153)
For other accounts of the session of April 26, see memorandum by Minnich, supra, and extracts from the Hagerty Diary, page 1410.