Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, The British Commonwealth, The Far East, Volume VI

740.0011 P.W./1–145

Memorandum by President Roosevelt for the Secretary of State

Washington, January 1, 1945.

I still do not want to get mixed up in any Indochina decision. It is a matter for post-war.

By the same token, I do not want to get mixed up in any military effort toward the liberation of Indochina from the Japanese.

You can tell Halifax² that I made this very clear to Mr. Churchill.³ From both the military and civil point of view, action at this time is premature.⁴

F[ranklin] D. R[oosevelt]

2. Viscount Halifax, British Ambassador in the United States.
3. Winston S. Churchill, British Prime Minister. Conversation on the subject took place at the Second Quebec Conference in September 1944. Documentation on that Conference is scheduled for publication in a subsequent volume of Foreign Relations.
4. See also President Roosevelt’s comments on Indochina in memorandum of March 15 by the Adviser on Caribbean Affairs (Taussig), especially first and last two paragraphs, vol. i, p. 121.