| Summary/Abstract |
Historians have long recognized the significance of Article 14(d) of the Geneva Agreement, which helped precipitate a refugee exodus from northern Vietnam. The origins of the clause itself remain obscure, however. This study argues that the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower played a critical role in pushing for the clause's inclusion in the Geneva settlement. Thwarted in its efforts to save the French in Indochina by military intervention, and forced to acquiesce in the conceding of territory to Ho Chi Minh, the administration's support for the article was an exercise in diplomatic and domestic damage limitation. In addition, the clause formed part of the administration's post-Geneva strategy aimed at bolstering Ngo Dinh Diem and the rump southern polity left in the wake of Vietnam's partition.
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