Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Foreign Minister of France Robert Schuman, General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, George Perkins, Livingston Merchant, and William M. Gibson

1419 DEPARTMENT OF STATE 277 87 Memorandum of Conversation DATE: September 14, 1951 SUBJECT: Interview with General de Lattre de Tassigny Regarding Indochina PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary Mr. Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister General de Lattre de Tassigny, French High Commissioner in Indochina, Commander of French Forces in the Far East Assistant Secretary Perkins Acting Assistant Secretary Merchant COPIES TO: Mr. Gibson, PSA The Secretary Amembassy, PARIS FE - Mr. Merchant Amlegation, SAIGON EUR - Mr. Perkins Douglas MacArthur II Ambassador Bruce WE - Mr. Godley Minister Heath G - Mr. Matthews U. s, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 16-61120-1 General de Lattre opened the conversation with the remark that he was par- ticularly pleased to see the Secretary today for he had not expected to see him until after the Ottawa talks. That he should meet him on his first day in the United States and on the same day he had met the President was especially gratifying. He spoke of the cordial and "encouraging" interview he had had at noon with the President. He believed that the President had a thorough under- standing of the Indochina problem and had been very reassured by his statement to the effect that "we would not let Indochina fall into enemy hands". After the formalities had been completed, Mr. Schuman made a particular point of stating to the Secretary that he was glad to be able to present General de Lattre himself and to state that General de Lattre would be speaking on behalf of the French Government during his visit to the United States. The Secretary acknowledged this fact and remarked that General Marshall, Mr. Lovett and our own officials in the Department were all looking forward to discussing the details of the Indochina problem with the General. During the main body of the conversation General de Lattre reviewed the Indochina scene in a general sense. There was little stated that added to what Saigon and Paris had already reported. The General spoke of the improvement in the overall French military potential since he had taken command and MDAP goods began to arrive. He spoke of the victories in Tonkin of last season as having marked the turning of the tide. He stated that if it were made possible to carry out his present military plans and there were no Chinese military intervention the Viet Minh could be eliminated as a fighting force in a period of between one and two years. DECLASSIFIED E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 3(D) or @ The General Dept. of State letter, 11-14-77 NLL 77-47 CEORIT By MLT NC NARS Dal 11.20.77