Word: bao
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Disorganized, confused, divided, Western delegations took to blaming their allies. The U.S. delegates bitterly complained that Churchill had let the West down, blamed the weakness of the French government for the crisis, complained about feckless, fun-loving Bao Dai. "It's hard to say that the Vietnamese are struggling for their independence when their leader spends most of his time at Cannes with a bunch of blondes," grumbled...
...afterwards. The French had long been unwilling to grant their Vietnamese subjects even this much independence; they had delayed the agreement right up to the Geneva Conference, when it finally became necessary to remove the stigma of "colonial war" from the Indo-China campaign. Then Vietnamese Chief of State Bao Dai, who has lifted do-nothingism into a career, had balked for three days on the grounds that the package would probably be undone at Geneva by the French. Despite last week's agreement in principle, both Frenchmen and Vietnamese are still haggling over the legal and financial specifics...
Belatedly, the French looked around for more reliable nationalist support. They finally picked on Bao Dai, 40, a fun-loving descendant of the ancient Annamite emperors, who had collaborated with the Japanese, and later with Ho Chi Minh. In 1948, the French asked Bao Dai to return to Indo-China as chief of state for Viet Nam. In March 1949, the French gave Bao Dai's state "independence within the framework of the French Union." In April, Bao Dai landed in Indo-China. "I risk my skin," said he, justifiably, for he got but little support. "COMMUNISM No-COLONIALISM...
...December 1949, Red China's triumphant Mao Tse-tung reached the IndoChina border, and started ferrying up to 3,000 tons of supplies a month to Comrade Ho. In January 1950, Moscow and Peking recognized Ho Chi Minh's "Democratic Republic." In February 1950, the U.S. recognized Bao Dai's state, and 37 of its allies followed suit. In June 1950, the U.S. sent its first shipment of arms. When the Communists struck in Korea. President Truman sent military advisers to Saigon. The world issue was joined...
...tons of concrete-some 10,000 forts, emplacements and bunkers up and down Indo-China. The Communists could not get at him. but neither could he get at the Communists. In May 1953, General Henri-Eugene Navarre took over. His plan: increase Bao Dai's army from 200,000 to 500,000 so it could watch the quiet areas while he, Navarre, went after the Communists with his striking force. "Victory is a woman," said Navarre. "She does not give herself except to those who know how to take her." But if Navarre knew how, the French Cabinet back...