IKE WARNS NATION OF FALLING DOMINOS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 7, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower held a news conference at the White House in which he said the impending fall of French Indo-China to the communists could result in a "falling domino"* effect in Southeast Asia.
As of spring 1954, Communist Vietnamese nationalists under Ho Chi Minh** were on the verge of defeating the French.
The President said...
"You have broader considerations that might follow..the "falling domino" principle. So you would have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."
*Falling Domino effect was a Cold War policy suggesting a communist takeover in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring countries.
**Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) was a Vietnamese revolutionary & statesman who served as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1945-1955 & President 1945-1969. HCM was educated at the International Lenin School, 1934-1935.
JFK+50 NOTE
The French were defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 and North Vietnam was created as a communist state (Democratic Republic of Vietnam). At the time, South Vietnam remained free. In 1976, north & south were unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
