Communist guerrillas had been fighting to free Vietnam from French control since December 19, 1946, and the French -- and their allies in America and Britain -- bought into the idea that, if Vietnam fell to Communist rule, so would all of France's colonies in Southeast Asia, known as Indochina, and the rest of Asia might soon follow. This became known as the Domino Theory: Each country falling would act as a domino to make the next one fall.
The Viet Minh, however, under General Võ Nguyên Giáp, surrounded and besieged the French at Điện Biên Phủ. The strategic positioning of their artillery made it nearly impervious to French counter-battery fire. As key positions were overrun, the perimeter contracted, and the air resupply on which the French had placed their hopes became impossible. As the Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire took its toll and artillery bombarded the airstrip, effectively preventing takeoffs and landings, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached the French.
The garrison was overrun in May after a two-month siege, and most of the French forces surrendered. A few men escaped to neighboring Laos. Of the 11,000 French troops captured, only 3,300 survived imprisonment. The French government in Paris, led by Prime Minister Joseph Laniel, resigned. The new Prime Minister, the left-of-center Pierre Mendès France (yes, "France" was his surname), supported French withdrawal from Indochina.
The war ended shortly afterward, and the 1954 Geneva Accords were signed. France agreed to withdraw its forces from all its colonies in French Indochina, while stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Hồ Chí Minh, and the south becoming the State of Vietnam, nominally under Emperor Bảo Đại, keeping Hồ and his Communists from gaining control of the entire country.
The following year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower began sending American "advisors" to Vietnam, beginning the American phase of the Vietnam War. Giáp would lead the army, now known as the Viet Cong, to victory there, too. He lived until 2013, age 102.
Strangely, although Americans would end up fighting them longer, and killing far more of them, once peace finally came, the people of Vietnam treated the Americans as honorable opponents. Despite the distance of years, they still hated the French, thinking them dirty fighters.
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May 7, 1954 was a Friday. Film director Amy Heckerling was born on this day.
These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-0 at Yankee Stadium. Tom Morgan pitched a 5-hit shutout. The runs came on solo home runs by the guys you would expect, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Don Newcombe outpitched Curt Simmons. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-4.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 7-6 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams got the day off.
* The Cincinnati Redlegs, in their 1st year under that stupid McCarthyism-inspired name, before switching back in 1959, beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Stan Musial went 0-for-4.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Braves, 3-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rookie Ernie Banks went 0-for-4. Rookie Hank Aaron went 1-for-4.
* The New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The game was made up on August 10. The Giants, won, 2-1. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
* And the Baltimore Orioles, the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers were not scheduled.
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