Replacing France: Alliance Politics and the American Commitment to Vietnam, 1950-1960

FAIN: FT-53289-05

Kathryn Claire Statler
University of San Diego (San Diego, CA 92110-8001)

I will use the NEH summer stipend to complete the last of my research in France and to finish my book manuscript. The book examines how the Franco-American alliance failed to preserve the peace in Vietnam during the 1950s, ultimately accelerating the American commitment to a non-communist, independent South Vietnam and ensuring further conflict. The core questions of this book are how and why the United States came to replace the French political, military, economic, and cultural presence in South Vietnam.