Embers of War (132 page)

  
7
Chester L. Cooper,
In the Shadows of History: Fifty Years Behind the Scenes of Cold War Diplomacy
(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2005), 118.

  
8
The question of whether this encounter in fact took place has long been controversial. But several members of the American delegation claimed to witness it personally. See Cooper,
In the Shadows of History
, 113.

  
9
Cooper,
In the Shadows of History
, 117. Cooper’s earlier book appeared in 1970 under the title
The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam
(New York: Dodd, Mead, 1970). In this first book, he says that he and the Chinese did not exchange any words in the elevator, but merely smiled and then laughed (77).

10
Diary entry, April 26, 1954, Evelyn Shuckburgh,
Descent to Suez: Diaries, 1951–1956
(New York: W.W. Norton, 1987), 177.

11
Diary entry, April 30, 1954, ibid., 183–85; Matthew Jones, “The Geneva Conference of 1954: New Perspectives and Evidence on British Policy and Anglo-American Relations,” unpublished paper in author’s possession.

12
Geneva to FO, May 2, 1954, FO 371/104840; diary entry, May 2, 1954, Shuckburgh,
Descent to Suez
, 186. See also Eden, “Discussions on the Situation in South-East Asia, March 29–May 22,” June 11, 1954, PREM 11/649, TNA.

13
Geoffrey Warner, “From Geneva to Manila: British Policy Toward Indochina and SEATO, May–September 1954,” in Lawrence S. Kaplan, Denise Artaud, and Mark Rubin, eds.,
Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations, 1954–1955
(Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1990), 150.

14
Moran Diaries, entry for May 4, 1954 from Lord Moran,
Churchill: The Struggle for Survival, 1940–1965
(London: Constable, 1966), 573. Said Churchill a few weeks later: “What [Dulles] says counts for absolutely nothing here and the more he says it the more harmless he becomes.” Churchill to Eden, June 16, 1954, PREM 11/666.

15
Jean Chauvel,
Commentaire: De Berne à Paris, 1952–1962
(Paris: Fayard, 1973), 3: 56, as quoted in Cable,
Geneva Conference
, 71.

16
Reading letter to Lloyd, May 14, 1954, SELO 5/15, Selwyn Lloyd Papers, Churchill College, Cambridge. Said one British cable: “Robertson, as we all know, is mad.” Paris to FO, May 3, 1954, FO 371/112058, TNA. See also Donald Maitland,
Diverse Times, Sundry Places
(Brighton, U.K.: Alpha Press, 1996), 74.

17
Eden diary entry for May 3, 1954, AP20/1/30, Anthony Eden Papers, University of Birmingham (hereafter UB); Cable,
Geneva Conference
, 70. For Smith’s low opinion of Dulles, see Tim Weiner,
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
(New York: Doubleday, 2007), 79. Donald Maitland, who accompanied Eden to the airport to see off Dulles, recalled that Eden railed against the American en route to the airport. “I had no idea he was capable of such venom.” Maitland,
Diverse Times
, 74.

18
Devillers and Lacouture,
End of a War
, 151–52. The text of Bidault’s speech is in
Le Monde
, May 11, 1954.

19
See Zhou Enlai to Mao Zedong and others, “Regarding the Situation of the First Plenary Session,” May 9, 1954, Record no. 206-Y0049, PRC Diplomatic Archives, Beijing; and Central Committee to Zhou Enlai, May 9, 1954, Record no. 206-Y0049, PRC Diplomatic Archives, Beijing. I’m grateful to Chen Jian for making these documents available to me, and for his translation.

20
“Indochine, Propositions faire par le Délégation de la République du Viêt-Nam,” May 10, 1954, Box X, Indochine, Institut Pierre Mendès France (hereafter IPMF), Paris.

21
See Tahourdin and Allen, “Record of a talk with a member of the Soviet delegation,” May 1, 1954, FO 371/112060, TNA.

22
De Brébisson memorandum, June 17, 1954, cited in Edouard Frédéric-Dupont,
Mission de la France en Asie
(Paris: Éditions France-Empire, 1956), 172–73.

23
Pierre Asselin, “The DRVN and the 1954 Geneva Conference: New Evidence and Perspectives from Vietnam,” unpublished paper in author’s possession; Zhou Enlai to Mao Zedong and others, “Regarding the Situation of the First Plenary Session,” May 9, 1954, Record no. 206-Y0049, PRC Diplomatic Archives, Beijing.

24
Third Plenary Session on Indochina, Geneva, May 12, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, The Geneva Conference
, XVI, 780–83.

25
“Notes made by Mr. MacArthur for his own information, following a meeting between the Secretary and Mr. Allen Dulles,” May 14, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, Indochina
, XIII, 2:1562–64; Eden to FO, May 15, 1954, FO 371/112065.

26
Bidault à MAE, May 11, 1954, Dossier IV, Conférence de la Genève 26 avril–17 juin, 457 AP 55, AN; “Décision prise en Comité de Défense Nationale le 15 May 1954,” Dossier IV, DPMF, Indochine, IPMF; Jacques Dalloz,
Georges Bidault: Biographie politique
(Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan, 1993), 367–68.

27
“Memcon: French Military Briefing, Indochina,” May 11, 1954, Box 49, CF 312, Record Group 59, NARA.

28
Guillermaz quoted in James Waite, “The End of the First Indochina War,” Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio University, 2005, pp. 225–26; Eden to FO, May 11, 1954, FO 371/112063, TNA; Chiefs of Staff Committee, “Confidential Annex,” May 12, 1954, FO 371/112064, TNA.

29
Le Monde
, May 7, 1954.

30
See, e.g., the material in
FRUS, 1952–1954, Indochina
, XIII, 2:1534–36, 1566–68, 1574–75, 1586–90, 1618–20; Paris to FO, May 16, 1954, FO 371/112065, TNA.

31
Eden to FO, May 1954, FO 371/112065, TNA; Eden to FO, May 16, 1954, FO 371/112066, TNA.

32
Spender to Tange, May 21, 1954, A5462/1, pt. 3, CRS National Archives of Australia; and Webb to Holland, May 20, 1954, EA1, 316/4/1, pt.7, CRS Archives of New Zealand.

33
Dulles to Rusk, May 24, 1954, Box 8, “General Foreign Policy Matters (3),” White House Memoranda Series, Dulles Papers, Eisenhower Library. I thank Matthew Jones for drawing this document to my attention. No June meeting devoted to this topic appears to have taken place.

34
Devillers and Lacouture,
End of a War
, 201–2, 232.

35
Quoted in William J. Duiker,
U.S. Containment Policy and the Conflict in Indochina
(Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1994), 176–77.

36
U.S. News & World Report
, May 29, 1954;
Time
, May 31, 1954.

37
Geneva to FO, May 29, 1954, FO 371/112068, TNA; Geneva to State (Dulles), May 30, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, The Geneva Conference
, XVI:974–78; Eden diary, May 29, 1954, AP20/17/231, UB; Cooper,
Lost Crusade
, 85.

38
Smith to Dulles, May 30, 1954, Box 9, Indochina May 1953–May 1954 (1), Dulles Papers, Eisenhower Library. This portion of the cable is excised from the version printed in
FRUS
. I thank Matthew Jones for bringing this version to my attention.

39
Paris to FO, May 29, 1954, FO 371/112089, TNA; Geneva to FO (for Churchill), May 30, 1954, FO 371/112089, TNA.

40
Eden to FO, June 1, 1954, FO 371/112089, TNA; Eden diary, May 30, 1954, AP20/17/231, UB; Eden diary, June 1, 1954, AP20/17/231, UB.

41
Geneva to State, June 2, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, The Geneva Conference
, XVI:1005–8.

42
Hiroyuki Umetsu, “Australia’s Response to the Indochina Crisis of 1954 Amidst the Anglo-American Confrontation,”
Australian Journal of Politics and History
52, no. 3 (2006), esp. 406–14; Casey quote is on p. 414. See also Gregory Pemberton, “Australia, the United States, and the Indo-China Crises of 1954,”
Diplomatic History
13 (Winter 1989): 45–66.

43
Umetsu, “Australia’s Response,” 414.

44
Ibid.; Memcon, June 4, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, East Asia and the Pacific
, XII, 1:537–39; Washington to FO, June 3, 1954, FO 371/112089, TNA.

45
Pierre Pellissier,
Diên Biên Phu: 20 novembre 1953–7 mai 1954
(Paris: Perrin, 2004), 459–68; Devillers and Lacouture,
End of a War
, 181–83.

46
“Fiche sur la Conférence à cinq de Washington sur le Sud-Est Asiatique,” Indochine 295, Asie-Océanie 1944–1955, MAE; British Joint Staff Mission (DC) to MOD, June 7, 1954, FO 371/112070, TNA; “Report of the Five Power Military Conference of June 1954, Pentagon, June 11, 1954,” FO 371/111866, TNA. The French delegation’s statements are in Enclosure C, Annexes 2 and 3.

47
Robert Buzzanco, “Prologue to Tragedy: U.S. Military Opposition to Intervention in Vietnam, 1950–1954,”
Diplomatic History
17 (Spring 1993): 201–22. Ridgway is quoted in David L. Anderson,
Trapped by Success: The Eisenhower Administration and Vietnam, 1953–1961
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 29.

48
Cabinet minutes, June 5, 1954, CAB 128/27, TNA; Eden diary, June 6, 1954, AP20/17/231, UB.

49
June 16, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, Indochina
, XIII, 2:1711–13.

50
R. G. Casey diary entry for June 13, 1954, 34–M1153, NAA.

51
SecState to Paris, June 14, 1954, in
FRUS, 1952–1954, Indochina
, XVI:1147.

52
NSC meeting notes, June 15, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, Indochina
, XIII, 2: 1693–94.

53
Wrote Robert McClintock, the counselor at the U.S. embassy, already in mid-May: “Much as I oppose partition in Vietnam, I would rather resort to that desperate recourse, retaining, above all, important air-base at Tourane, than to contemplate ramparts of sand in Cambodia and Laos.” Saigon to State, May 13, 1954,
FRUS
,
1952–1954, Indochina
, XIII, 2:1552–53.

54
Memo of discussion, NSC meeting, June 17, 1954,
FRUS, 1952–1954, Indochina
, XIII, 2:1713–18.

55
Geneva (Eden) to FO, June 12, 1954, FO 371/112089, TNA; Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Mandate for Change: The White House Years, 1953–1956
(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1963), 366.

CHAPTER 23:
“We Must Go Fast”

  
1
Quoted in Philippe Devillers and Jean Lacouture,
End of a War: Indochina, 1954
(New York: Praeger, 1969), 246. See also Eric Roussel,
Pierre Mendès France
(Paris: Gallimard, 2007), 226; and Jean Lacouture,
Pierre Mendès France
, trans. George Holock (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1984), 213.

  
2
The economics of the war are ably handled in Hugues Tertrais,
La piastre et le fusil: Le coût de la guerre d’Indochine 1945–1954
(Paris: Comité pour l’histoire économique et financière de la France, 2002).

  
3
Devillers and Lacouture,
End of a War
, 246.

  
4
Robert O. Paxton, “Mr. France,”
New York Review of Books
, June 13, 1985.

  
5
Quoted in Lacouture,
Pierre Mendès France
, 205.

  
6
See, e.g., “Entretien de Bidault et Chou En Lai,” June 8, 1954, Indochine, Box V, Oc, IPMF.

  
7
For Bidault’s bitter and resentful recollection of this period, see Georges Bidault,
Resistance: The Political Autobiography of Georges Bidault
, trans. Marianne Sinclair (New York: Praeger, 1968), chap. 10.

  
8
Aron quoted in Lacouture,
Pierre Mendès France
, 217.

  
9
“Extract from Minute #6 of the Plenum Conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Conference June 24, 1954,” Molotov’s report to CPSU Central Committee on the Geneva Conference, Harvard Project on Cold War Studies Online Archive,
www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/documents.htm
; Geneva (Eden) to FO, June 19, 1954, FO 371/112074, TNA.

10
Geneva (Eden) to FO, June 16, 1954, FO 371/112073, TNA; Eden diary, entry for June 16, 1954, AP20/17/231, Eden Papers, UB; Zhou Enlai to Mao Zedong and the CCP Central Committee, June 19, 1954, in Xiong Huayuan,
Zhou Enlai chudeng shijie wutai
[Zhou Enlai’s Debut on the World Scene] (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian, 1998), 98. Translated for me by Chen Jian.

11
Lacouture,
Pierre Mendès France
, 220. On the Chinese playing the lead role among the two Communist giants, see also Mari Olsen,
Soviet-Vietnam Relations and the Role of China, 1949–1964: Changing Alliances
(London: Routledge, 2006), 40.

12
Eden diary, entry for June 18, 1954, AP20/17/231, Eden Papers, UB.