Eisenhower, The White House Years Eisenhower The White House Years Page : 158 et 159 American leaders feared for the wholesale collapse of the region and again contemplated nuclear war. Just before lunch on June 2, Eisenhower's top military and diplomatie advisers came to him to discuss American action should China advance on Vietnam or the rest of Jndochina.
Even read a half century later, their contingency plan trembles: Congress would be asked immediately ta declare that a stare of war existed with Communist China, and the U.S. should then launch large-scale air and naval attacks on ports, airfields, and other military targets in mainland China, using as militarily appropriate 'new weapons.'