Presidential Papers, Doc#841 To John Foster Dulles, 24 April 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #842

Document #841; April 24, 1954
To John Foster Dulles
Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part V: Maintaining "a united defense"; April 1954 to August 1954
Chapter 10: Losing the war "they could not win"

 

Dear Foster:1 If you believe that the following message could have any beneficial effect whatsoever, please deliver it through the usual channels. If you feel it would do no good, please destroy it. Moreover, if you find some value in the intent and purpose of the message, but doubt the aptness of its terminology, I suggest that you revise and correct it as you see fit. My present feelings on the Dien Bien Phu affair are accurately described on the draft of the message that appears below.2 The message is intended for Prime Minister Laniel and of course if it is to be used there is no time to waste. If the Prime Minister should lack some logical opportunity for making a public statement of the kind I suggest, he might wish merely to reply to my message and then make his reply public. If he should make any such suggestion, please approve it on the spot.

"My dear friend. The entire free world has been inspired by the heroism and stamina displayed by the gallant garrison at Dien Bien Phu. Their devotion and the quality of their resistance have been so great that now regardless of the outcome that battle will stand as a symbol of the free world's determination to resist dictatorial aggression and to sustain its right of self-determination and its dedication to the dignity of the human being. I hope that you may find it wise and proper to make a public statement to this effect so that France and all the world may know that regardless of the possibility of the physical over-running of this gallant outpost, France will continue the war for the independence of Indo-China, and that the spirit of the French Army and of France remains true to the honor and glory of her heroic past. France has in the past suffered temporary defeats but always she has triumphed in the end to continue as one of the world's leaders in all things that tend to bring greater richness to the lives of men. I hope also that the gallant garrison at Dien Bien Phu may know that no sacrifice of theirs has been in vain; that the free world will remain faithful to the causes for which they have so nobly fought.

With expressions of my personal regard, Dwight D. Eisenhower"

As ever3

1 Eisenhower, then in Augusta, read the text of this message over the telephone to Under Secretary of State Walter Bedell Smith. After Smith approved the content, the President made some minor revisions and then had the cable dispatched from Washington as an Eyes Only/Top Secret message to Dulles in Paris (TEDUL 7; see State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. XIII, Indochina, pt. 1, p. 1383). An earlier draft of this cable, with Eisenhower's handwritten emendations, is in AWF/Drafts.

2 For background see nos. 816, 839. During the month of April the Vietminh had tightened their stranglehold on the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu. On April 23 Dulles cabled Eisenhower that the situation was "desperate" and that the French had used their last reserves. The French, said Dulles, had told him that only a massive bombing raid by the United States could save them from having to ask for a cease fire (DULTE 7, AWF/D-H; see also Fall, Hell in a Very Small Place, pp. 225-78, 327-32, and Davidson, Vietnam at War, pp. 255-60).

3 Dulles decided not to deliver Eisenhower's note to Prime Minister Laniel and recommended instead that the letter be redrafted and sent to French president René Coty as soon as the Vietminh captured the position (Dulles to Eisenhower, DULTE 17, Apr. 24, 1954, AWF/D-H). With some misgivings, Eisenhower approved both the redraft and the delay. The revised message would be delivered to Coty on May 7, the day when Dien Bien Phu fell. The sentence beginning, "I hope that you may find it wise" and ending with "glory of her heroic past" was deleted from the final version. Three days later Coty would express his "profound gratitude" to Eisenhower for his message (State Department to American Embassy, Paris, May 4, 1954, and Coty to Eisenhower, May 10, 1954, AWF/I: France; Dillon to Dulles, May 7, 1954, AWF/D-H; State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. XIII, Indochina, pt. 1, p. 1396; and ibid., vol. XVI, The Geneva Conference [1981], pp. 578-79). For developments see no. 842.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To John Foster Dulles, 24 April 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 841. 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/841.cfm

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