0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
without a taint of colonialism. Dien Bien Phu was a blessing in disguise."
20/ The years of "guarded optimism" began, The French defeat had
cost the 11S
about $3 billion and an immoasurable loss of prestige in Southeast
Asia. Further, the US accepted a territorial compromise with the
communists rather than chancing the direct involvement of US combat forces.
However, more critically, Eisenhower had elected to replace the French and
maintain a direct US presence in Indochina.
advisors and training programs,
With strong rhetoric, military
support for Ngo Dinh Diem (especially his
refusal to hold elections as called for by the Geneva Accords),
and renewing
military and economic assistance, the US,
in effect, "created" the new
state of South Vietnam. Thereafter, several years of military quiet and
social progress in South Vietnam resulted.
US
policy with respect to Vietnam during the balance of the
Eisenhower years was announced by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far
Eastern Affairs Gn Juiie 1, 1956, about eight months after the US recognized
President Diem as Chief of State of Vietnam.
That policy was stated as follows:
To support a friendly non-Commurist government in
Viet- Nam and to help it diminish and eventually eradicate
Communist subversion and influence.
To help the Government of Viet-Nam establish the
forces necessary for internal security,
To encourage support for Free Viet-Nam by the
non-Communist world.
To aid in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of
a country and people ravaged by 8 ruinous years of
civil and international war. 21/
c. Implementing Programs
The following key programs were developed and tailored for
the implementation of US foreign policy in Southeast Asia during this
period:
0 The Mutual Defense Assistance Program. On March 10, 1950, President
Truman approved more than $10 million in urgently needed aid
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