396.1 GE/4–2454: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Department of State
Secto 1. For Phillips from McCardle. Following is Secretary Dulles’ statement made on arrival at Geneva, April 24, 1954:
“We come to Geneva on a mission of peace made necessary by communist aggression in Asia. We shall be working on behalf of the Republic of Korea and the Associated States of Vietnam, Laos and [Page 553] Cambodia, whose lands have been invaded and whose peoples have been ravaged by war. We think of the courageous forces of the French Union at Dien Bien Phu who, under the gallant leadership of General DeCastries, are at this very moment suffering cruelly because ambitious rulers seek to extract some profit which they can use at this Geneva conference.
“We hope to find that the aggressors come here in a mood to purge themselves of their aggression, and that it will thus be possible to achieve a durable peace which will restore to the brave Korean people their unity and independence, and enable the peoples of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to enjoy and perfect the political freedom which is now theirs.
“I take this occasion to express the friendship which is felt by the American people for the people of Switzerland and their appreciation of the manifold services which Switzerland has rendered throughout its history for the cause of peace and humanity”.