Office of the Historian

359. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Robertson) to the Secretary of State1

Washington, February 11, 1957.

SUBJECT

  • Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem’s Request for Official Visit to Washington.

Discussion:

Last year President Ngo Dinh Diem of Viet-Nam gave many clear hints to our Ambassador in Saigon that he wanted to make a state visit to Washington this year. We recommended such a visit in my memorandum to you of October 17, 1956 (Tab A2), but this recommendation apparently was not approved (Tab B3). Now, as reported in Saigon’s 2404, February 5 (Tab C4) Diem has openly requested our Ambassador in Saigon to inform the Department that he would like to make an official visit to Washington, preferably during the month of May 1957, and he has followed this up with a similar [Page 763] request transmitted through the Vietnamese Ambassador in Washington (Tab D5). No doubt Diem considers such a visit would greatly enhance Vietnamese prestige both as against the northern Communist regime and in Southeast Asia generally. It also appears that he considers the situation in Viet-Nam sufficiently stable to permit his absence at the time suggested.

Viet-Nam is our newest and one of our staunchest friends in Asia. We have great reason to be satisfied with Diem’s performance and, therefore, reason to show him highest level attention. Diem is eager to come to the United States and since he has gone so far as to make a formal request for a visit, I would hope that we can accede to his wishes at some time convenient to President Eisenhower. As I understand front U/PR that the heavy present schedule of state visits makes it impracticable to invite President Diem in May, I strongly recommend that we avoid offering him a total rebuff by fixing as firmly as possible a date later in 1957, possibly in November or December.

Recommendation:

That you sign the attached memorandum to the President (Tab E6) recommending that Diem be promised an invitation to the US later this year.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751G.11/2–557. Confidential. Drafted by Kocher and Corcoran with the concurrence of Sebald.↩
  2. Not attached to the source text; not printed. (Ibid., 751G.11/10–1756)↩
  3. Not found attached.↩
  4. Not attached to the source text; not printed. (Department of State, Central Files, 751G.11/2–557)↩
  5. Memorandum of conversation by Corcoran, February 5, not attached to the source text and not printed. (Ibid., FE Files: Lot 59 D 19, MC–Vietnamese, 1957)↩
  6. Not attached to the source text. A copy of this memorandum to the President is ibid., Central Files, 751G.11/2–557. The text is very similar to that of the memorandum above. No record has been found in Department of State files or at the Eisenhower Library to indicate whether or not Eisenhower approved the memorandum. Diem did visit Washington in early May notwithstanding the heavy schedule of other visits by Heads of State.↩