It took effect when Bảo Đại and the French High Commissioner in Indochina exchanged letters at City Hall in Saigon on 14 June 1949.

[16][17] That March 24 Declaration was based on what had been achieved at the Brazzaville Conference in early 1944 in gratitude for colonial soldiers' service to Free France during World War II, whereby political entities in French Indochina would be granted a large degree of freedom and democracy.

[30][31][32][b] One month later, the French accepted their complete defeat, and the State of Vietnam lost north of 17th parallel to the communists with an agreement that it opposed and did not sign.

[39] The agreement was important for the U.S. moving from neutrality to supporting the French in the war,[4][27] starting with the U.S. being the first country other than France to recognize Vietnam's independence on 3 February 1950.

[43] This treaty made Vietnam a semi-constitutional monarchy headed by Bảo Đại with no constitution and no parliament, and whether it became a republic or not was subject to a referendum.

The French Associated States including Vietnam were allowed to establish diplomatic relations with a limited number of foreign capitals, mainly Washington, London, Rome, and Bangkok.

[1] Vietnam was granted the right to appoint diplomats to the Republic of China, Thailand, and the Holy See, however Vietnamese diplomacy still depended on France.

[53][54][55] Even before World War II, the United States abandoned colonialism by granting self-government to the Philippines in 1935 with a roadmap to independence, completed in 1946.

[56] The fact that Vietnam was allowed by France to establish its own diplomacy helped its independence be recognized by the United States on February 3, 1950.

Vietnam had the right to own its armed forces to take charge of maintaining order, internal security, and national defense.

[1] French schools in Vietnam applied the programs currently in force in France; a class on Vietnamese history and civilization was required to be taught there.

[57] The French Government undertook to present and support Vietnamese candidates whenever they fully satisfied the general conditions laid down by the Charter of the United Nations for admission to this organization.

Profound economic and social reforms will be instituted to raise the general standard of living and to promote social justice, which is the condition and guarantee of order... [I look for] the union of all Vietnamese regardless of their political and religious tendencies, and the generous support of France on which I can count.Although Vietnam gained independence under this agreement, the French believed that Vietnam could only gradually gain autonomy in governance when its state apparatus became increasingly stronger.

General Marcel Carpentier, Commander in Chief when France applied for U.S. aid, was quoted in The New York Times on March 9, 1950, as follows:[4] I will never agree to equipment being given directly to the Vietnamese.

It would be wasted, and in China, the United States has had enough of that.The Bảo Đại Solution leading to independence of Vietnam succeeded in uniting all anti-communists of Vietnam in fighting the communists of Hồ Chí Minh and cooperating with the French to build an independent and unified state, which included the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng from the start.

[3] The agreement was denounced by the Vietnamese communists led by Hồ Chí Minh as "illegal" and a cover for France continue its "colonialism" in Vietnam under the help and control of American "imperialism".

The United States welcomed the agreement and pressed France to strictly implement it and gradually transfer power to Bảo Đại's anti-communist faction in a substantive manner.

During the 1950 negotiations in Pau, France, Vietnamese Prime Minister Trần Văn Hữu was recalled to Indochina due to a series of French military reversals in Northern Vietnam when communists had Chinese help.

increased its activities: opening exhibition rooms, publishing multilingual newsletters, and screening the film "One Year of the Korean War".

[3] The powers transferred by France to Vietnam on the first of the year were set forth in 27 agreements signed by French and Vietnamese representatives at Saigon on December 29, 1949.

On 3 July 1953, the French government issued a declaration of its intention to complete the independence and sovereignty of the three Indochinese Associated States (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam).

As one writer put it:[4] By accepting the eventual restriction of trade within the French Union, by losing all effective authority over the issuance of money, by renouncing control over foreign trade, by permitting a system of controlled prices for exports and imports, we have given the Associated States all the power they need if they wish to assure the ruin of our enterprises and compel their withdrawal without in any way molesting our compatriots.After the Convention signed in Pau on November 29, 1950 within the framework of the French Union, the privilege of issuing currency was transferred from the Bank of Indochina to the Issuing Institute of the Indochinese Countries (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam), or the Institut d'Émission des États du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viet-nam, that was established in December 1951 and began operating on 1 January 1952.

The treaty was based on the Franco-Vietnamese Summit in Đà Lạt on November 5, the conference estimated that within five years, the Vietnamese armed forces would consist of 115,000 men, with military equipment and weapons provided by the United States.

[84] In late 1951, the French Air Force established the Vietnamese 312th Special Mission Squadron at Tan Son Nhat Airfield equipped with Morane 500 Criquet liaison aircraft.

[85]: 10  In March 1952, a training school was set up at Nha Trang Air Base, and the following year two army co-operation squadrons began missions flying the Morane 500 Criquet.

The Vietnamese Navy began operations on April 10, 1953...[86] Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French High Commissioner and commander of French troops in Indochina (1950–52), declared that the war France was waging in Vietnam was anti-communist and that France no longer had colonial ambitions here:[4] We have no more interest here... We have abandoned all our colonial positions completely.

Bảo Đại also supported this administrative entity and claimed that he accepted the proposal as he believed that he could help in the ethnic minority tribes in their development and enjoy the serene environment of the territories.

[90] The Americans' assessments of Diệm were varied but Diệm did gain favor with some high-ranking officials, such as Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Roman Catholic cardinal Francis Spellman, Representative Mike Mansfield of Montana, and Representative John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts along with numerous journalists, academics, and the former director of the Office of Strategic Services William J.

[103] In September 1950, the U.S. further enforced the Truman Doctrine by creating a Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) to screen French requests for aid, advise on strategy, and train Vietnamese soldiers.

One year later, Vietnam participated in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and its football association representing an independent country joined FIFA.