DeGaulle offers to help end Vietnam War
In response to a letter from Ho Chi Minh asking that French President Charles De Gaulle use his influence to prevent perfidious new maneuvers by the United States in Southeast Asia De Gaulle states that France is willing to do all that it could to end the war.As outlined by De Gaulle the French believed that the Geneva agreements should be enforced that Vietnams independence should be guaranteed by the nonintervention of any outside powers and that the Vietnamese government should pursue a policy of strict neutrality.President Lyndon Johnson saw De Gaulles proposal as part of a continuing effort by the French leader to challenge U.S.
leadership in Southeast Asia as well as in Europe.Seeing the American commitment in Vietnam as part of a larger global issue of American credibility Johnson believed that the United States could not afford to abandon its South Vietnamese ally and rejected De Gaulles proposal without consideration.
