U.S. PRESTIGE IN VIETNAM

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27407, 21 July 1954, Page 11

U.S. PRESTIGE IN VIETNAM

“Lowest Ebb Since_War” (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, July 20. American prestige in Vietnam, the biggest of the states of Indo-China, apR® ar , e< t (° have hit its lowest ebb since World War 11, said an American Associated Press report from Saigon today. Until a few ciays ago, the United States still could count on the friendship of some elements of the population—the anti-Communist Vietnamese in the north and the Nationalist Government of the Roman Catholic leader, Ngo Dinh Diem. The principal reason for the decline in the American position, as summarised by Frenchmen and tfeeir Vietnamese allies, was the apparent lack of clear and consistent United States policy, and Washington’s uncertainty in dealing with the Indo-China situation. The Vietnamese, who did not know the intricacies of American party politics, were repeatedly confused by the conflicting statements coming from leaders in the United States. However, reports from Washington that President Eisenhower’s Administration has now accepted the principle of partition of the country seemed to have wiped away much of that goodwill. In. the closing days of the Geneva Conference and on the verge of a possible cease fire in the long and exhausting war, the United States stood discredited in the eyes of many elements of the population.