0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
0 Economi, Aid Programs. On September 7, 1951, the US signed an
agreement authorized by Public Law 535, 81st Congress, with
Premier Tran Van Huu's government providing for direct US economic
aid to Vietnam, On March 7, 1955, the US, under the
Eisenhower administration, and the government of Premier Ngo Dinh
Diem signed an agreement which supplemented the previous economic
aid pact, Initially, the program was designed to help sustain
and strengthen the Vietnamese economy during its struggle to
overcome communist subversion. After 1955, the aid focused on
the basic development of the strife-torn Vietnamese Economy and
on projects contributing directly to that goal.
d. In-Country Conformance and Implementation of US Policy
The US commitment to Vietnam in the early fifties was enigmatic.
While the success of American policy depended upon a steady
increase in the authority, prescige and popularity of a
non-communist
Vietnamese government, it also depended upon a continued French military
effort; yet the more power the French allowed the Vietnamese to have, the
less the reason for the French to stay and fight. When the US ambassador
Donald R. Heath attempted to use the prospect of aid as leverage to obtain
greater independence for the Bao Dai government 23/, the French countered
with a veiled threat to pull out of the struggle, Both Washington and the
Embassy in Saigon,
conscious of the lack of leverage witn the French and
unsure of the appeal of the Bao Dai government to the Vietnamese people,
viewed the abandonment of Vietnam to communism as their only other
alternative--one which was totally unacceptable,
The first US military supplies arrived in Vietnam in June
1950 ind the first contingent of American military officers end men arrived
in Saigon later that year.
Under Brigadier General Francis G. Brink, they
formed the nucleus of the Military Assistance Advisory Group,
Indochina,
which was subsequently redesignated the Military Assistance Advisory Group,
Vietnam (MAAG-V). Their organization was of the same type as used at that
time in other countries receiving US military assistance--consisting of a
joint headquarters with Army, Air Force and Navy officers and men., The
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