751G.00/5–3154: Telegram
The Chargé at Saigon (McClintock) to the Department of State
2604. Repeated information Paris 925, Geneva 177, Hanoi, Bangkok unnumbered. During my conversations this weekend in Hanoi, I found Governor Tri considerably shaken in his estimate of fortitude of Tonkin populace. He said Dien Bien Phu had had a marked effect on morale and that Geneva Conference had even greater repercussions among people of Tonkin. They were fearful that even seemingly fair armistice terms providing for zones of occupation would in effect amount to partition and loss of Tonkin to Viet Minh.
Tri repeatedly exclaimed to me yesterday “if only United States could make a declaration of intent to intervene militarily in case enemy tries to take Delta, it would be worth ten divisions”. I replied that declarations were of little use unless they described conditions of fact and I did not know my government’s attitude toward military intervention.
. . . . . . .
These vignettes are perhaps too highly drawn, but at least they reflect a mounting sense of panic and a feeling that the last act is about to open.