751G.00/4–3054
The Secretary of State to the United States Representative at the United Nations (Lodge)1
Dear Cabot: I refer to your letter of April 27, 1954 to the President regarding Indochina and the United Nations. As I think you know, I have been very anxious to have this matter, at least in some of its phases, brought before the United Nations, but the French have been violent in their opposition. In view of the role they were playing, it has seemed best not to take action which would intensify the French desire to quit entirely in Indochina.
We are keeping our finger on the pulse of the French situation with a view to possible United Nations action. That was the last thing about which I talked to Bidault on Sunday night, May 2, before leaving Geneva.2
At this moment, I am thinking in terms of a peace observation commission for Laos, Cambodia, and perhaps Thailand, rather than a call for troops, which, I fear, would be very difficult to obtain at the present juncture.
Faithfully yours,
- Secretary Dulles transmitted a copy of this letter to President Eisenhower on May 10. (Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, “Indochina”)↩
- The question of a possible role for the United Nations in Indochina was raised during a discussion between Secretary Dulles and Jean Chauvel of the French Delegation, later joined by Foreign Minister Bidault, at Geneva on the evening of May 2. For MacArthur’s memorandum of that conversation, see vol. xvi, p. 667.↩