On to Geneva

When Secretary of State John Foster Dulles landed at Orly airport at midweek, he looked forward to three quiet days of conferences with France's Foreign Minister Georges Bidault and Britain's Anthony Eden, to talk over tactics before Geneva. In a matter of hours, the air of leisure was abruptly shattered. While the world wondered and worried, statesmen scurried from one closed room to another, generals emerged tight-lipped from secret meetings.

The shock came at the first meeting of the three foreign ministers Thursday morning. Dulles and Eden found Bidault in a highly emotional state over Dienbienphu and the perilous prospects of the Laniel government. Because of Bidault's agitation, all Dulles was able to get was agreement on a note rejecting Moscow's demands for equal status for Red China at Geneva.

Crucial Meeting. By Saturday, French leaders had recovered from their first panic. Bidault held a crucial meeting with the Cabinet. He fought down those who wanted peace at any price and at once, even if it meant dealing directly with the Viet Minh. He won "a free hand" to negotiate at Geneva, but only coupled with a specification--"to bring back peace in Indo-China."

That afternoon Admiral Arthur Radford flew in from the U.S., went straight from the airport to confer with Dulles, then met Eden and Bidault. At 4 o'clock the three Western ministers met for a final conference at the Quai d'Orsay. Bidault admitted frankly that the fall of Dienbienphu was a matter of days, if not hours. Bidault discussed the possibility of the U.S. and Britain sending planes or troops. Both Eden and Bidault agreed that the best answer was the Southeast Asia pact, which only two weeks ago they had both viewed with misgivings. But such a pact could net be negotiated in the next critical few days. So the three turned to the painful consideration of what terms might be acceptable for a ceasefire. Dulles asked Bidault for assurance that the French would fight on in Indo-China at least until the Geneva conference got under way and the West had a chance to see what the Communists offered. Bidault agreed. But his promise went no further than that.

Midnight Talk. After more than two hours of glum consultation, the three separated. Dulles went off to see Premier Laniel, who formally asked him for help from U.S. air forces. Eden flew back to London, drove directly to Prime Minister Churchill's country home Chequers for a midnight talk. Next morning Churchill called Britain's top military men to an emergency Cabinet meeting--the first time the Cabinet has been summoned on a Sunday in nearly seven years. The Cabinet made the reluctant decision that they could not send either troops or planes to help the harassed French.

Arriving in Geneva, Dulles set his jaw grimly, and did his best to re-establish an air of Western determination. He dismissed talk of partitioning Indo-China, a notion to which the British have clung. "The only partition I would favor," said Dulles, "would be to set apart a place way up north, about the size of this room, and lock up all the Communists there."

Balky Ally. Next day a weary Bidault arrived in Geneva only hours before the conference opened. Behind him there was more trouble. Bao Dai had balked at the last minute. Too many people in France were talking of dealing with the Viet Minh and partitioning his country, said Bao Dai and he refused to sign the treaties establishing Viet Nam's independence, which the French had hopefully expected would take from their war the taint of colonialism before Geneva opened.

As the conference opened, the West managed to bypass temporarily the question of Red China's status by getting agreement that the chairmanship would rotate among Russia, Britain and a neutral--Thailand. The week's events, however grim, had brought the West to a closer understanding of the peril, if to no agreement on what was to be done about it. On Geneva's first day, Georges Bidault asked dramatically for a truce long enough for the French to evacuate Dienbienphu's 1,500 wounded. He appealed "to the conscience of the civilized world ... to save from the hazards of combat the men who no longer can take part in it because they have already shed their blood. May my appeal, issued from this high place of peace, be heard."

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