Introduction
When the First Indochina War ended with French withdrawal, Vietnam was partitioned and an international body was created to oversee the peace and administer the implementation of the Geneva Accords. Reflecting the dynamics of the early Cold War, the International Control Commission (ICC) was composed of delegates from three countries, representing the Western, Soviet, and non-aligned spheres of influnece. Canada, Poland, and India were appointed to these respective posts.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Canada remained involved in this observatory role in Vietnam. As tensions rose and French involvement gave way to increasingly American intervention in the 1960s, Canada struggled to balance its conflicting policy objectives of supporting its ally in the United States and maintaining the neutrality demanded by its position on the ICC.
In 1973, a study of Canada's policy "with respect to the Vietnam problem" was prepared for the Department of External Affairs by Canadian diplomat William Thomas Delworth. The report explored the ways in which the Department navigated these contradictory demands during the complex period of 1962-1966.
The following briefing book is composed of that report, divided into thematic/chronogical sections for easy navigation. The appendices referred to in the report, consisting of a variety of memoranda, telegram communications, and other pertinent contemporary sources, are linked directly into the text of the report.
The report can be accessed in full in the file attached to this introduction below. It was released by Library and Archives Canada in response to ATI request # A-2023-01186.
