<text id=00he1704><title>Change in American Policy</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>Change in American Policy</hdr><body>
<p>Opinion in the United States by now had swung to favor the French, primarily because they were fighting Communism. In the highly emotional anti-Communist atmosphere of the United States in the 1950s, the enemy of their enemy was their friend. In a small way, the US was trying to help; technicians were sent to assist in the maintenance and repair of the US aircraft that had been supplied to France. Secretary of State Dulles had hoisted the spectre of massive retaliation, but it turned out to be only words. Less than a month later, in an at least partial contradiction of his Secretary, Eisenhower said that he could foresee " ... no greater tragedy than for the United States to become involved in an all-out war in Indochina." It was a signal to the French that no real help would be forthcoming from that quarter.
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<p>For the French, the war really ended in the siege at Dien Bien Phu that began in March 1954. They had been drawn into a trap, an undefendable position that required air supply of several hundred tons a day. Giap's forces had gathered in the hills around the doomed garrison, and moved in their artillery. From the heights they could see and adjust the position of practically every shell that landed near the airstrip or the French positions. The terrain forced aircraft into a single approach and departure pattern, and pilots on supply runs referred to the flight pattern in the valley as 'The Slot'. In such a situation, the Viet Minh anti-aircraft had a fairly easy time of it, and it is a wonder that any planes got past the flak barrage to drop zones.
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<p>Now that it was too late, the United States began to consider some sort of active intervention on the side of the French. Covert support was given through the cover of Civil Air Transport, one of the Central Intelligence Agency's creations. It was the remnant of Chennault's China Air Transport, driven out of the mainland by the inexorable advance of the Communists and now operating out of Hong Kong. CAT began to fly the supply routes, using Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo transports transferred from USAF stocks.
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<p>At the Joint Chiefs of Staff level, the discussion was divided between two, and perhaps more, proposals. The Navy and Air Force favored a surgical strike by bombers, the B-29 heavies now retired from the Korean conflict. Certainly the question of the weapons to be used must have come up, and certainly nuclear weapons must have been considered. The strike would hit a single strategic Viet Minh target. preferably at night, and with the US insignia on the aircraft replaced by French markings.
