Hess’ Franklin Roosevelt and Indochina

Gary Hess’ work, “Franklin Roosevelt and Indochina”, deals with the trusteeship plan of Franklin Roosevelt during the early 1940s. Roosevelt, until his death, believed in the independence of those living in Indochina, which was held by the Japanese and was wanted by the French. Roosevelt argued against the French’s claim because of their waning success in the world as well as American sentiment against Western colonialism.

The point of the trusteeship was to allow for independence for these people in the future and creating a structure for them to have economic and social success. When Roosevelt died, so did the plan. However, during the life of this argument, Roosevelt and his administration gave very little confidence or effort to a substantive plan, leaving it languish as an unrealized idea.

Hess’ conclusion is that the plan was noble but the effort was lacking. Roosevelt, the State Department, and the Allied forces were ambivalent about committing to the Indochina trusteeship. For the Allies, it was because they wanted to maintain their international holdings, which were in decline. For the administration as a whole, the reason was that they were promising the French help. The French did not impress Roosevelt, who thought that the better image for the United State would be as liberator, not colonizer.

Hess uses a good deal of sources in his argument, including public polling, correspondence between officials, and second hand analyses of the Indochina policy. Hess crafts a good narrative of the administration’s dealings with Indochina by looking at all the parties involved and looking at what the stakes were for their respective groups.