851G.00/12–1646
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Southeast Asian Affairs (Landon)
In the course of a conversation on another subject M. Lacoste asked whether we were getting any news from Indochina. I said that, of course, we were getting information from Indochina but that we were not getting enough to make the situation seem clear-cut; that the general impression derived from the reports was that the situation was not improving between the French and the Vietnamese and that it might be deteriorating.
M. Lacoste asked whether I had any ideas as to a possible solution such as, for instance, the displacement of Ho Chi Minh and other communist extremists with more reasonable, moderate Vietnamese leaders. I said that such a displacement of the present Vietnamese leaders seemed unlikely and asked whether M. Lacoste felt that any outside power or organization could help the situation if its good offices were utilized. M. Lacoste was horrified at the thought and assured me that no French Government would ever consider utilizing the good offices of a third power or of an organization such as the United Nations in an attempt to resolve its difficulties with the Vietnamese. He pointed out that French use of the good offices of the United States Government in the solution of differences with Siam was very different from the use of good offices in an internal situation in Indochina. M. Lacoste then inquired whether I had any more information which I could provide him on recent developments in Indochina and I said that I had none.