Presidential Papers, Doc#352 To Joseph Laniel, 28 July 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #352; July 28, 1953
To Joseph Laniel
Series: EM, AWF, International Series: France
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953
Chapter 5: "So much to do in the world"

 

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:1 I have asked Douglas MacArthur, II, who, as you know, is Counselor of the State Department, to proceed to Paris to convey to you my warm personal greetings and to discuss with you informally problems of common interest.2 One of these which is much on our mind these days is Indo China.3

While I assume that Mr. MacArthur will seek an audience with you in company with our Ambassador, if you should want to give him any personal messages, I would be glad to receive them.

You will recall that Mr. MacArthur brought us together in Paris some two years ago and I hope that the acquaintance then begun can be renewed in the not too distant future.4

With assurances of my continued respect, Sincerely

1 Joseph Laniel had become Prime Minister of France on June 27 after a lengthy political crisis had produced six unsuccessful attempts to form a government (see no. 261; and State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. VI, Western Europe and Canada, pt. 2, p. 1358).

2 For background on Douglas MacArthur II see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 32 and 995.

3 For background see no. 256. MacArthur, accompanied by Ambassador Dillon, would meet Laniel at a private dinner on July 30. MacArthur would outline the problems faced by the United States in helping France reduce the Indochina war to "manageable proportions." Laniel emphasized that his government was attaching "no strings" to the offer of independence made to the Associated States on July 3 and that he personally supported an expanded military effort in the war. Crucial to his success, he continued, was the balancing of the 1954 budget and increased financial assistance from the United States, amounting to 150 billion francs (approximately $400 million). MacArthur explained that the United States first needed a clear presentation of the cost and military value of the revised program, and Laniel countered by saying that if the United States refused to grant the aid, he would be succeeded by a government that would withdraw from Indochina (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. XIII, Indochina, pt. 1, pp. 706-9).

Eisenhower would endorse the requested $400 million aid package in a speech to the Governors' Conference on August 4, calling it the cheapest way possible to block the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. At its September 9 meeting the National Security Council voted to recommend $385 million for the calendar year 1954 to support the French in their stepped-up campaign (Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1953, p. 541; State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. XIII, Indochina, pt. 1, pp. 787-89).

4 Laniel would reply on July 31 (AWF/I: France) that he was "particularly touched" by the President's message and that "no emissary could have been more pleasing than the one you chose." Describing his conversation with MacArthur as "frank and complete," he expressed the hope that he would have the occasion to meet Eisenhower again.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Joseph Laniel, 28 July 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 352. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/352.cfm

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