Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Vietnam, Volume I

344. Memorandum of the Discussion at a Department of State–Joint Chiefs of Staff Meeting, The Pentagon, Washington, August 31, 1956, 11:30 a.m.¹

Washington, August 31, 1956, 11:30 a.m.

1. French Military Effort in Viet Nam

Admiral Radford opened the meeting by referring to the problem caused in Viet Nam by lack of French cooperation. He declared that in his opinion the French training missions there are hurting our cause more than they are helping it. They will not advise General Williams regarding activities they are actually carrying on, and neither General Williams nor his officers are allowed to visit French controlled training areas. He said he is convinced that the United States must ready itself to take over all training in Viet Nam. Mr. Robertson expressed full concurrence with Admiral Radford’s views on the lack of French cooperation in Viet Nam but raised the question whether we should break all ties with them there, having in mind that neither we nor the Vietnamese had signed the 1954 Armistice Agreement, and the French have certain responsibilities in Indo-China under that Agreement. Mr. Murphy pointed out that it is the Department’s hope that the French will eventually decide by themselves to withdraw entirely and that the result we all want can thereby be accomplished without creating a situation under which the United States would be in a position to be blamed for forcing the French out.

Admiral Radford asserted that the arrangement proposed by President Diem for a defense committee is a good one,² and the French should not be blocking it.³ Mr. Robertson inquired regarding the acceptability of a Vietnamese chairman for the committee, instead of General Williams as originally suggested. Admiral Radford replied that a Vietnamese chairman would be all right with him. He returned then to his earlier complaint that the French are not cooperating and emphasized that we “should tell them the facts of life”. He went on to declare that the French are not sending any good people to Viet Nam any more and stressed that General Williams’ position has been made quite embarrassing. He complained that our relations with the French are on an all-give and no-take basis and that most of our relations in Viet Nam seem to consist of providing the French with information they want. Mr. Murphy suggested that perhaps the French have about reached the state of mind in which they would be willing to leave Viet Nam entirely in so far as military activities are concerned. He expressed the opinion that it is perhaps a good time to review the situation both in Viet Nam and elsewhere with a view to having a further talk between State and Defense as regards our next moves.

[Here follows discussion of the Suez situation, MAAG advisers on the Chinese off-shore islands, Japanese labor relations with United States armed forces, Austrian force levels, and a recent plane incident off the China coast.]

1. Source: Department of State, State–JCS Meetings: Lot 61 D 417. Top Secret. The following note appears on the cover sheet of the source text: “State Draft. Not cleared with any of the participants.”

   Attending for the JCS were Radford, Taylor, Burke; Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Thomas D. White, and others; for Defense, Gray and Fox; for the CIA, Cabell and Wisner; and for the NSC, Gleason. Murphy and Robertson headed the Department of State contingent. In all, 25 persons attended the meeting.

2. On August 11, Diem discussed with the French a plan for creation of a Committee for Instruction of the Vietnamese Armed Forces. The committee would have as its president MAAG Chief Williams, and would have three other representatives—one from MAAG, one from the French Military Mission, and one from the Armed Forces of Vietnam. The committee would be responsible for the overall direction of the training of Vietnamese armed forces. (Telegram 536 from Saigon, August 13; ibid., Central Files, 651.51G/8–1356)
3. An example of the French dissatisfaction with this proposed committee (which the French believed was American-inspired) is in telegram 788 from Paris, August 14. (Ibid., 651.51G/8–1456)