Military Assistance Advisory Group, Indochina is Re-Designated MAAG, Vietnam

November 1, 1955

Military Assistance Advisory Group Vietnam Emblem

Overview

Military and civilian leaders in Washington, D.C. believe that political developments in Indochina throughout 1955—including Diem’s election and a Cambodian election—signal greater stability in the region. They begin seeking ways to increase the effectiveness and coordination of the American military and economic aid program in Indochina.

In response to these developments, MAAG begins to decentralize its operations. Its leaders begin reorganizing the group to recognize newly independent states in the region. In June 1955, the U.S. military’s Pacific Command forms a logistics-oriented MAAG, Cambodia. Lieutenant General Samuel T. Williams then assumes command of MAAG, Indochina on October 24, 1955. Under his leadership, and immediately after Diem’s formation of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), the group drops the Indochina designation and officially becomes MAAG, Vietnam on November 1.1

¹Edward C. Keefer and David W. Mabon, eds., Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Volume I, Vietnam, (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1985), Document 263; Joseph G. Gallagher to Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, “Brief Summary of Past Significant Events MAAG Vietnam (Indo-China),” August 24, 1956, MACV Command Historians Collection (U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA); George S. Eckhardt, Command and Control, 1950–1969 (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1991), 12–13.