751G.00/5–754: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Embassy in France1
3979. Please forward following message immediately to Bao Dai:
“Your Majesty: On behalf of the American people I should like to express to you and the people of Viet-Nam our admiration for the gallant men of the Vietnamese forces who, together with their comrades of the French Union, for two months so heroically defended Dien Bien Phu against insuperable odds. It is sad indeed that the fortress and its brave defenders have fallen to the enemy, but we can be heartened in the knowledge that their sacrifice has not been in vain. Not only have they taken a terrible toll of the enemy, but, I think more important, their heroic resistance to the evil forces of Communist aggression has given inspiration to all who support the cause of human freedom. Those brave men made their sacrifice in order that individual freedom and national independence for the people of Viet-Nam should not be lost to Communist enslavement. We of the Free World are determined to remain faithful to the causes for which they have so nobly fought. With expressions of my personal regard, Dwight D. Eisenhower.”
Saigon, deliver courtesy copy to Government of Viet-Nam and arrange appropriate local publicity. This message and message to Pres Coty2 released by White House this afternoon.
- Drafted by Poole of FE. Repeated to Saigon as telegram 2216, to Hanoi as telegram 617, to Geneva as telegram 95.↩
The text of the President’s letter to French President Coty, May 7, 1954, was as follows:
“My Dear President Coty: The entire free world has been inspired by the heroism and stamina displayed by the gallant garrison at Dien Bien Phu. Their devotion and the quality of their resistance have been so great that that battle will forever stand as a symbol of the free world’s determination to resist dictatorial aggression and to sustain its right of self-determination and its dedication to the dignity of the human being. France has in the past suffered temporary defeats, but always she has triumphed in the end to continue as one of the world’s leaders in all things that tend to bring greater richness to the lives of men. Those who fought and died and suffered at Dien Bien Phu should know that no sacrifice of theirs has been in vain; that the free world will remain faithful to the causes for which they have so nobly fought.
“With expressions of my personal regard, Dwight D. Eisenhower”
Text from the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954, p. 463. For President Coty’s reply, released May 13, see ibid., p. 463n.
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