A mere bluff? Possibly, but the Truman team was not willing to call it. In March, Secretary of State Acheson, with customary candor, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “We do not want to get into a position where the French say, ‘You take over; we aren’t able to go ahead with this.’ We want the French to stay there.… The French have got to carry [the burden] in Indochina, and we are willing to help, but not to substitute for them.”
