The United States was another story. French mistrust of American intentions ran deep, both among colons and among officials in the metropole. There was the suspicion, expressed in the March parliamentary debate and in the press, that Washington sought to displace France and incorporate Indochina within its growing economic empire. There was the persistent fear that the U.S. military would tighten restrictions on the Paris government’s ability to transfer American-built military equipment to the Far East. And most of all there was the worry that American leaders would act on their deeply held
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