161. Letter From the Commander in Chief, Pacificʼs Political Adviser (Martin) to the Director of the Vietnam Task Force (Cottrell)1
Dear Cot: In certain CINCPAC contingency plans the question arises of what our aims would be if military operations should ever develop against North Viet-Nam. That is, would we include the reunification of Viet-Nam by military means as one of our aims?2
As far as I can determine our position on the reunification of Viet-Nam remains that set forth in the Bedell Smith declaration of July 21, 1954 at Geneva3 which included the following:
“In connection with the statement in the declaration concerning free elections in Viet-Nam my Government wishes to make clear its position which it has expressed in a declaration made in Washington on June 29, 1954 as follows:
“ʽIn the case of nations, now divided against their will, we shall continue to seek to achieve unity through free elections, supervised by the United Nations to insure that they are conducted fairly.ʼ”
I have seen no new policy pronouncements on this subject.4 Therefore, I assume that reunification of Viet-Nam by peaceful means continues to be our objective. I also assume, however, that reunification of Viet-Nam by military means would not be an aim of any military operations which might develop against North Viet-Nam short of a general war situation. I should be interested in any information you may have as to whether or not these assumptions are correct.
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Department of State, Vietnam Working Group Files: Lot 66 D 193, 20.1 GVN 1962. Secret.↩
- Next to this sentence the word “No” was written.↩
- For Smithʼs declaration, see Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, vol. XVI, p. 1500.↩
- Next to this sentence were written the words: “I believe this is correct.”↩