Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Indochina, Volume XIII, Part 1

Eisenhower Library, Dulles papers, “Indochina”

Memorandum for the File of the Secretary of State¹

secret personal and private

[Washington,] April 5, 1954.

Subject:

• Conference with Congressional Leaders concerning the crisis in Southeast Asia, Saturday, April 3, 1954.²

Those in attendance were:

Senators Knowland, Millikin, Johnson of Texas, Russell, Clements, Speaker Martin, Congressmen McCormack, Priest³

From the Department of Defense: Admiral Radford, Kyes, Anderson;

From the Department of State: The Secretary, the Under Secretary (part of the time), and Thruston B. Morton.

Admiral Radford gave a very comprehensive briefing of the military situation in Indochina. He went into particular detail in connection with the battle now raging at Dien Bien Phu.

The Secretary explained the significance of Indochina, pointing out that it was the key to Southeast Asia, that if the Communists gained Indochina and nothing was done about it, it was only a question of time until all of Southeast Asia falls along with Indonesia, thus imperiling our western island of defense.

The Secretary then said that he felt that the President should have Congressional backing so that he could use air and seapower in the area if he felt it necessary in the interest of national security. Senator Knowland expressed concurrence but further discussion developed a unanimous reaction of the Members of Congress that there should be no Congressional action until the Secretary had obtained commitments of a political and material nature from our allies. The feeling was unanimous that “we want no more Koreas with the United States furnishing 90% of the manpower.”

Both the Secretary and Admiral Radford pointed out that the Administration did not now contemplate the commitment of land forces. The Congressmen replied that once the flag was committed the use of land forces would inevitably follow.

The Secretary said that he had already initiated talks to secure unity of action. He had spoken with the British Ambassador yesterday and was meeting with Bonnet in a few minutes. He had talked with Romulo⁴ but he could not go further without knowing that he could expect U.S. action if the others responded.

Admiral Radford was asked if airpower could save Dien Bien Phu today. He replied that it was too late but that if we had committed airpower three weeks ago, he felt reasonably certain that the Red forces would have been defeated. It was apparent that the Congressional group, especially Senator Russell, had very little confidence in the French. There was less criticism of the British, but it was nevertheless substantial. Senator Russell said that if the U.K. flinched in this matter, it would be necessary to reconsider our whole system of collective security from the standpoint of dependability. Admiral Radford pointed out the extensive British military deployment in Malaya and elsewhere throughout that area.

It was decided that the Secretary would attempt to get definite commitments from the English and other free nations. If satisfactory commitments could be obtained, the consensus was that a Congressional resolution could be passed, giving the President power to commit armed forces in the area.

1. A handwritten notation on the source text by Roderic O’Connor, Special Assistant to Secretary Dulles, indicates that this memorandum was a revision by the Secretary of a draft prepared by Assistant Secretary Morton.
2. An entry in the log of the Secretary’s daily appointments, headed “Congressional Mtg—re Resolution for Indochina,” indicates that this meeting took place at 9:30 a.m. (Princeton University, Dulles papers, “Daily Appointments”) At a press and radio news conference at the State Department at 12:15 p.m., Henry Suydam, Chief of the News Division, refused to expand upon the following one-sentence announcement of the meeting: “At a meeting in the State Department with the Secretary of State present, Admiral Radford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed a bi-partisan group of congressional leaders on the situation in Indochina.” (ON files, lot 60 D 641, “Daily News Conferences”)
3. Senators William F. Knowland of California (the Senate Majority Leader), Eugene D. Millikin of Colorado, Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas (the Senate Minority Leader), Richard B. Russell of Georgia, and Earle C. Clements of Kentucky; Representatives Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of Massachusetts (Speaker of the House), John W. McCormack of Massachusetts (Minority Whip), and J. Percy Priest of Tennessee.
4. Gen. Carlos P. Romulo of the Philippines, personal representative of President Magsaysay on visit in the United States.