ABSTRACT
While Dwight D. Eisenhower awaited his inauguration, Secretary Acheson continued to discuss Indochinese matters with Letourneau, the new High Commissioner General of Indochina, at the French Foreign Office on 22 December 1952. Acheson was to discuss the future of the DRV’s military threats, but emphasize the nature of the French victory against the DRV at Na San in November. The French were concerned that the DRV planned to move into the Laos and Thai regions, which the French were unable to counter through lack of French troops. Letourneau hoped to raise militia regiments of 40,000 to 60,000 Vietnamese, lightly armed and led by French officers and NCOs, as discussed at the Five Power talks on 6-17 October 1952.
