When 1954 began, the French had been fighting the insurgent communist-dominated Viet Minh for more than seven years attempting to retain control of their colony Vietnam. Domestic support for the war by the population of France had declined. The United States was concerned and worried that a French military defeat in Vietnam would result in the spread of communism to all the countries of Southeast Asia—the domino theory—and was looking for means of aiding the French without committing American troops to the war.
In a last ditch effort to defeat the Viet Minh, the French had fortified a remote outpost in northwestern Vietnam named Điện Biên Phủ with the objective of inducing the Viet Minh to attack and then utilizing superior French firepower to destroy the attackers. Viet Minh General Võ Nguyên Giáp described the French positions in a river valley as being at the bottom of a rice bowl with the Viet Minh holding the high ground surrounding the French.
In May, French military forces surrendered to the Viet Minh concluding the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. In July, a cease fire agreement was reached by the Geneva Accords dividing Vietnam into two provisional states at the 17th parallel of latitude. Ngô Đình Diệm became Prime Minister of South Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh became President of North Vietnam. Diệm overcame an early challenge to his rule from army leaders and the Hòa Hảo and Cao Đài religious sects. The United States pledged its support to the Diệm government and began to replace France as the principal foreign power involved in South Vietnam. China and the Soviet Union began to provide economic assistance to North Vietnam.
January 12 January Emperor and Chief of State Bảo Đại appointed Bửu Lộc as Prime Minister of Vietnam.
29 January United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that 26 B-26 bombers and 200 U.S. Air Force mechanics would be provided the French to aid them in their war against the Viet Minh.
February 18 February The United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union agreed to discuss a solution to the war in Indochina at a Geneva Conference scheduled to begin on 26 April.
March
13 March The Battle of Dien Bien Phu began. The French garrison was surrounded by the Viet Minh commanded by Võ Nguyên Giáp. During the nearly two-month course of the siege a total of about 20,000 soldiers in the French army defended themselves against 49,500 Viet Minh fighters.
15 March The National Security Council of the United States approved the assignment of CIA operative Col. Edward Lansdale to Saigon. Lansdale was given much credit for advising Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and helping defeat the Hukbalahap Rebellion.
25 March President Eisenhower met with the National Security Council to consider U.S. intervention to assist the French at Dien Binh Phu. Eisenhower imposed four conditions for U.S. intervention: France would have to request U.S. intervention; the United Nations would have to approve; intervention would have to be a multi-national effort; and Congress would have to approve.
A U.S. Army study concluded that the use of nuclear weapons by the U.S. to relieve the siege of Điện Biên Phủ was feasible and suggested an operational plan. The study met with opposition from senior military officers and was quickly abandoned.
April 3 April President Eisenhower met with eight Congressional leaders, including Lyndon Johnson, to discuss Operation Vulture, a proposal to aid the French trapped in Dien Bien Phu with carrier-based air strikes. The members of Congress said they would support air strikes only if it were part of a multinational effort.
5 April The National Security Council met again to consider U.S. intervention at Điện Biên Phủ. The Army, including Army Chief of Staff General Matthew Ridgway, was negative, stating that U.S. intervention would require 7 army divisions and heavy air support.
7 April President Eisenhower used the phrase "falling dominoes" in a press conference. This was the origin of the domino theory which postulated that if Vietnam became communist the other nearby states would soon follow. The domino theory was a prominent justification for the Vietnam War in the United States during the 1960s.
14 April Secretary of State John Foster Dulles returned to the United States after having failed to persuade France and the United Kingdom to support a multinational effort to assist the French in Điện Biên Phủ. The French wanted American air strikes, but opposed a multinational coalition; the British preferred to rely on the upcoming Geneva Convention to resolve the problem of the war in Vietnam.
17 April Vice President of the U.S. Richard M. Nixon said at a press conference: "the United States as a leader of the free world cannot afford further retreat from Asia...If the French withdrew [from Vietnam], the United States might have to take the risk now by putting our own boys in."
22 April French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault told Dulles that only massive U.S. air strikes could save Điện Biên Phủ and withdrew French objections to a multinational effort. Winston Churchill in Great Britain, however, said he 'was not prepared to give any undertakings about United Kingdom military action in Indochina in advance of the results of Geneva."
26 April The Geneva Conference (1954) on Korea and Vietnam began.
May 6 May Two American pilots, James B. McGovern Jr. and Wallace Buford, were killed when their cargo plane, attempting to airdrop supplies into Dien Bien Phu, was shot down. They were employed by Civil Air Transport, a CIA owned company.https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/earthquake-mcgoons-final-flight.html , accessed 14 Jun 2014 37 American pilots participated in the effort to keep Dien Bien Phu supplied from the air."France to Fete American Pilots" Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb 2005, accessed 25 July 2014
7 May French forces at Dien Bien Phu surrendered to the Viet Minh. 11,721 soldiers of the French army surrendered, many of them wounded. Most of the soldiers were from the French Foreign Legion or French colonial possessions in Africa and Indochina. 4,148 prisoners were repatriated later in 1954.http://www.dienbienphu.org/english/html/bataille/losses.htm , accessed 24 Jul 2014 Most of the others are presumed to have died in captivity although the fate of 3,013 Vietnamese serving in the French army and captured at Dien Bien Phu is unknown. Jean-Jacques Arzalier, Les Pertes Humaines, 1954–2004: La Bataille de Dien Bien Phu, entre Histoire et Mémoire, Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer, 2004
The French suffered about 9,000 dead, wounded, and missing in the battle. The French estimated that the Viet Minh suffered 23,000 dead and wounded. The Viet Minh claimed that they had only 9,000 casualties. ().
The United States was paying 80 percent of the cost of the French war against the Viet Minh.Levy, David W. (1995), The Debate Over Vietnam, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 30
24 May After meeting Ngô Đình Diệm, the prospective Prime Minister of South Vietnam, in Paris, U.S. Ambassador Douglas Dillon told the State Department: "We were favorably impressed (with Diệm) but only in the realization that we are prepared to accept the seemingly ridiculous prospect that this Yogi-like mystic could assume the charge he is apparently about to undertake only because the standard set by his predecessors is so low."
June
1 June Colonel Edward Lansdale arrived in Saigon from the Philippines to create and lead the CIA's Saigon Military Mission (SMM). Lansdale, a former advertising executive, was tasked with helping pro-Western elements in Vietnam wage psychological and political warfare against the communist-dominated Viet Minh. The U.S. hoped than Lansdale could duplicate in Vietnam his success in helping the Philippines defeat the Hukbalahap insurgency.Bernstein, Marc D. "Ed Lansdale's Black Warfare in 1950s Vietnam" Historynet.com, accessed 28 July 2014
2 June In Saigon CIA operative Paul Harwood responded to a question from Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of Ngô Đình Diệm. Nhu asked what policies would persuade the U.S. to support his brother as Prime Minister. Harwood's terms were that the U.S. must participate directly in the training of the South Vietnamese army and the government of Vietnam must show uncompromising resistance to Viet Minh efforts to expand the territory under its control. Harwood's commitment to Diệm was unauthorized by the U.S. Government, but was tacitly accepted.
4 June A CIA secretary in Saigon, Virginia Spence, established a close relationship with Ngô Dinh Nhu. She said of him and his followers. "The men who have schemed and fought...to get political power don't have any idea what to do with it now that it's within their grasp. They are like the bride who couldn't see beyond the end of the church aisle...They need support, all right, but they don't realize how much. On the same day, France recognizes the complete independence of the State of Vietnam within the French Union, France and Vietnam become equal member states within the Union.
14 June Bửu Lộc resigns as Prime Minister of Vietnam, paving the way for the appointment of Ngô Đình Diệm. It is uncertain whether the U.S. encouraged, or merely acquiesced, in the appointment of Diệm. Both France and the United States appear to have decided he was the only viable candidate for the job.
Five American enlisted men were taken captive by the Viet Minh on a beach near Da Nang. They were held until August 31 when they were repatriated as a result of the Geneva Accords.Prados, John (1995), The Hidden History of the Vietnam War, Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Inc.
20 June The Premier of France, Pierre Mendès France, said that he "expected to have considerable difficulty with the new Vietnam government." Diệm, he said, was a "fanatic." His thoughts were echoed by other French officials: "Diệm is too narrow, too rigid, too unworldly", said one.
24 June 3,000 French troops withdrawing from An Khê toward Pleiku were ambushed in the Battle of Mang Yang Pass. The French suffered more than fifty percent casualties."The Valley of Crosses" , accessed 29 Jul 2014
26 June Ngô Đình Diệm arrived in Saigon after four years of exile in France and the United States to assume the post of Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam. Diệm was appointed to the post by Emperor and chief of state Bảo Đại, who lived in France most of the time. Diệm was a Catholic appointed to rule a country that was predominantly Buddhist.
In the words of one historian, "Diệm's attractiveness to his first American patrons derived from three qualities: he was a certified anti-communist nationalist, he was a Roman Catholic, and he understood English." English language ability was rare among Vietnamese at the time.
July
17 July The Battle of Chu Dreh Pass, takes place within the Central Highlands of French Indochina. It ended with the French battle group, 'Groupement Mobile No. 42' suffering heavy losses and the near destruction of the veteran Corée battalion. This was the last battle of the war with the Geneva ceasefire just three days later. 21 July The Geneva Accords were signed in Paris. The accords called for a cease fire in the war, the independence of Vietnam, its division at the 17th parallel of latitude into two provisional states, North Vietnam and the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and the establishment of a demilitarized zone 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide separating the two provisional states. Viet Minh soldiers were to withdraw to the north and military forces allied to France to the south. Free movement between north and south was granted for 300 days.