Prologue : perceptions by the United States of its interests in Indochina / Richard H. Immerman -- Franco-American conflict in Indochina, 1950-1954 / George C. Herring -- The French military and U.S. participation in the Indochina War / Laurent Césari -- Britain and the crisis over Dien Bien Phu, April 1954 : the failure of united action / Geoffrey Warner -- Eisenhower, Dulles, and Dien Bien Phu : "The day we didn't go to war" revisited / George C. Herring and Richard H. Immerman -- Military necessity, political impossibility : the French viewpoint on operation Vautour / Laurent Césari and Jacques de Folin -- Redefining the American position in Southeast Asia : the United States and the Geneva and Manila Conferences / Gary R. Hess.