751G.94/184b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul at Hanoi (Reed)
Washington, September 18, 1940—6
p.m.
- 1.
- For your information in case inquiries are made of you by officials of the Government General or in case there should be appropriate occasion for mentioning the matter to those officials, officers of the Department have been having conversations with Colonel Jacomy and Mr. Camerlynck, members of a purchasing mission from Indochina now in the United States, and the Department is giving active consideration to the question of ways and means of assisting them toward attaining productive results.
- 2.
- Your telegrams in regard to general and specific developments in Indochina have been helpful. The Department suggests, however, that you endeavor to expand their usefulness by reporting in greater detail and at greater length, with interpretive comment, especially while the situation is in a state of flux. One aspect of the situation in regard to which authoritative information would be of interest and value to the Department is the character and status of the relationship between the Government General and the French Government at Vichy. As you may be aware from press despatches or other sources, there are current rumors emanating from other parts of the French colonial empire, especially from various points in North Africa, which are faced with problems of pressure similar to those which doubtless confront the Government General at Hanoi, indicating that inclination and determination to resist outside pressure are hardening in French circles, both civilian and military. If you consider that your relations with the Government General or other authoritative French sources are such that you might in conversation appropriately bring up this subject, possibly in the form of an inquiry, it is suggested that, in your discretion, you find occasion in the near future to do so. You will, of course, appreciate the importance of authentic information of this nature to the Department, especially in view of the approaches which this Government has made at Vichy in regard to the situation developing in Indochina.
Sent to Hanoi via Hong Kong. Repeated to Chungking and Peiping. Hong Kong please repeat to Tokyo.
Hull