Office of the Historian

112. Draft Telegram From the Secretary of State to the Embassy in Vietnam1

Washington, April 11, 1955.

Eyes only for Collins from Secretary. Your 44522 received and carefully studied, as well as your preceding messages. In light of your considered judgment3 that Diem cannot gain adequate Vietnam support to establish an effective government,4 you are authorized to acquiesce in plans for his replacement. This is on the assumption that replacement can be found who in your opinion is improvement. This in our opinion requires that he should not be a person who is or who can plausibly be represented to be a tool of “French colonialism”.5 Also, we assume it is your judgment that replacement can be effected without this involving civil war such as you apprehend would be the case if Diem continues and seeks by force to assert his authority over the Binh Xuyen.6

With regard to the operational features of the program, we feel we must leave this to your judgment as it involves preponderantly local factors which we here cannot judge.

We sincerely hope that this move will be for the best and you can be confident that we will wholeheartedly do everything in our power to bring it out that way.

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President. Top Secret; Personal and Private.↩
  2. Document 110.↩
  3. In his own hand, Eisenhower replaced the words “considered judgment” with “reiterated conviction”.↩
  4. At this point Eisenhower added in his own hand the phrase: “and that several men are available whose designation as Premier would improve the existing status.”↩
  5. The immediately preceding two sentences were combined by Eisenhower to read as follows: “But it is vital that, in your judgment the replacement should not be a person who can plausibly be represented as a tool of ‘French Colonialism’.”↩

  6. Eisenhower made a suggestion which, from evidence of the revised draft, resulted in an additional paragraph. Eisenhower’s suggestion is outlined in an excerpt from a memorandum of discussion with the President by Dulles, April 11, noon. The excerpt constitutes all discussion on Vietnam:

    “I read to the President my cable to Collins No. 4438 and Collins’ reply No. 4452. I showed the President the draft of a proposed cable to Collins authorizing him to acquiesce in a replacement of Diem under certain conditions. The President indicated that he thought that these conditions should be stiffened up by reference to the importance of a more clear cut understanding with the French with reference to the central government taking over the national police from the Binh Xuyen. He also wrote in manually certain suggested changes to my cable. He authorized me to make such further changes as might seem consistent with the general principles we had agreed upon and to despatch the cable.” (Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President)

    For telegram 4438, see Document 109.

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