Replacing France: The Origins of American Intervention in Vietnam

6. From the French to the Americans

183  From the French to the Americans WRiting ShORtly aFteR the geneva conference, French official Jean chauvel optimistically averred that France would be able to “rein in american impulses” in trying to replace France in vietnam since the geneva accords “did not allow new personnel or materials.” chauvel proclaimed, “we are in vietnam and the americans aren’t. american financial and material assistance passes through France. any change in this reality would certainly be considered an infraction to the accords. all american initiatives must pass French inspection and approval no matter if the vietnamese government appeals directly to the americans.”1 how quickly it all changed. perhaps the single greatest factor leading to the american commitment in South vietnam was the eisenhower and Diem administrations’ determination to end the French presence there in the two years following geneva. politically, the French had already faced major setbacks as Diem became ensconced as prime minister and refused to begin consultations for the 1956 elections. These political setbacks led France to question its remaining military , economic, and cultural presence in vietnam. in addition, fearing that continued French resistance to South vietnamese and american pressure to leave would create a rupture in the atlantic alliance, French officials decided they had no choice but to relinquish control in South vietnam to the americans. This loss of control was a long, drawn-out process. it had looked possible, even likely, that the French would not have to withdraw at all as american and French officials tried to cooperate in late 1954. Searching for a united Franco-american policy in South vietnam—as they had done so many times in the past—paris and Washington sent instructions to French general paul ely and U.S. special representative to vietnam J. lawton collins underlining that competition between the two countries should be avoided and that the United States did not seek to replace France. in this new period of 1 After Geneva, 1–1 collaboration, mixed committees were created to solve problems in the areas of public order, information and propaganda, refugees, agricultural reform, establishment of a national assembly, economic and financial measures, education and formation of administrative personnel, and military training. This period represented the high point of Franco-american cooperation in South vietnam and coincided with the French plan to keep the Fec in place and maintain military and political control. France also had major economic plans such as agrarian reform and agricultural and technical aid.2 But the increasing american presence in South vietnam would lead to Franco-american conflict rather than cooperation. as Washington strove to secure Diem’s government and delay the 1956 elections in the political arena, it also engaged in a planned operation to replace the French militarily, economically, bureaucratically, and culturally. militarily, the U.S. ended the Franco-american training Relations instruction mission (tRim), helped diminish the French military training school for vietnamese officers (ecole militaire Supérieur vietnamienne, or emS), set up the temporary equipment Recovery mission (teRm), and took over the training of the South vietnamese army. at the same time, South vietnamese and american pressure led paris to withdraw the French high command and Fec. economically , the United States replaced France as the leading exporter to South vietnam and sent increasing amounts of economic aid through the commercial import program (cip), the Food for peace program or pl 480, and the international cooperation administration. american officials advised Diem, helped train his administration, and began building up both an official and an unofficial bureaucratic and cultural presence in South vietnam through organizations such as the United States Operations mission (USOm), the United States information agency’s vietnam center (USiS Saigon ), the michigan State University group (mSUg), the american Friends of vietnam (aFv), and the american-vietnamese association (ava). The United States also sought to replace the French language with english and French customs with american ones. Military Matters France itself had left the door open to French military withdrawal at the geneva conference. paragraph 10 of the Final Declaration took note of the French statement that expressed French readiness to withdraw forces from vietnam at the request of the government concerned. But of course, France had anticipated that it would be in control of any South vietnamese govern- From the French to the Americans 1 ment and would be able to choose its own departure time. indeed, under article 14(a) of the armistice agreement, civil...