Following the conclusion of the Second World War, France ì
reassumed its position as a colonial power in Southeast Asia. Å 4.ls1
1J. Buttinger, Vietnam: A Dragon Embattled, Vol. 1 (New ì
York: Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers, 1967), 183.
Soon thereafter, however, France found itself embroiled in a ì
bitter war in Vietnam, then a part of French Indo-China, were one ì
element of the Vietnamese population was seeking political ì
independence for the country from France. Over the ensuing ì
decade, the physical, monetary, and human losses suffered by both ì
France and the Vietnamese were enormous.ì
The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 led directly ì
to the Geneva Conference in that same year in which accords were ì
reached that marked the exit of France from Southeast Asia, ì
placed the United States squarely in the position as the major ì
Western presence in Southeast Asia, and moved the long-running ì
war in Vietnam into a new phase. ô 4.ls1
2J. Buttinger, Vietnam: A Dragon Embattled, Vol. 2 (New ì
York: Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers, 1967), 834-845.
ô This study examined the Geneva ì
Accords of 1954 that were reached in the Geneva Conference called ì
to deal with the Vietnam question. The positions of the French, ì
who were seeking a graceful exit from Southeast Asia by this ì
time, and the Vietnamese led by Ho Chi Minh, who were seeking to ì
oust all Western occupiers from Vietnam, are not difficult to ì
either identify or understand. In seeking to exit from Southeast ì
Asia, however, the French sought the assistance of the United ì
States. The motivations that led the United States under ì
President Eisenhower to participate in the Geneva Conference of ì
1954 are much more complex that were those of either the French ì
or the Vietnamese. Further, the major outcome of American...