Office of the Historian

86. Memorandum for the Record, by Colonel J.E. Kelly of the Embassy in Vietnam1

Saigon, April 1, 1955.

At 0015 on 1 April Colonel Lansdale came to the Embassy Residence and saw me. He said that he had just come from the Palace and that:

(1)
The Government was sending a letter to Ely immediately requesting Ely’s authority to move Vietnamese troops through the [Page 175] French-protected section of town in the event the Binh Xuyen attacked the Vietnamese Army,
(2)
That in the event Ely refused to grant this permission to the Government, President Diem would send a letter shortly (in the early hours of the morning) to the Ambassador requesting his good offices to intercede with Ely to procure this permission for the Vietnamese, and
(3)
That in the event of an attack by the Binh Xuyen the President was going to call on Ambassador Collins and General O’Daniel asking them to come to the Palace and give him advice.

In view of the embarrassing position which such a letter forwarded to the Ambassador by the President in the middle of the night might cause the Ambassador and the President should the Ambassador refuse to intercede and become an intermediary between the Vietnamese and the French, I felt it wise to awaken the Ambassador to determine if he wished to block such an action. I informed the Ambassador of the information contained in paragraph 1 above and he stated:

(1)
He would receive no letter from the Government that night, and
(2)
Neither he nor General O’Daniel would go to the Palace and give advice to the Government in the event of attack.

I informed Lansdale of the Ambassador’s decision and urged him to take such measures as necessary to prevent President from making such requests of the Ambassador. As we were discussing this the Ambassador came out of his room and reiterated his above decision, directing Lansdale, Redick and Potter (who had also dropped in) to go home and go to bed and keep away from the Palace and such absurd activities. He assured them that the French would not permit the Binh Xuyen to launch an attack that night.

Kelly
  1. Source: Collins Papers, Vietnam File, Series VII, K. Secret. Kelly was on temporary duty at the Embassy, attached to Collins’ personal staff.↩