With increased American assistance as well as a buildup of the VNA, and with French devolution of sovereignty to the non-Communist governments, “only an outright invasion by the Chinese communists would be likely to rescue the Viet Minh from defeat.” The report acknowledged the breadth of Ho Chi Minh’s popular appeal and took note of the “current of nationalism [that] runs strong throughout Indochina,” but its author was not willing to characterize Ho as a genuine nationalist. The Viet Minh leader’s objective, Mansfield wrote, was merely to use a “form of misdirected nationalism” to gain the
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