Somewhere in the National Archives of the United States lies one of the very first, if not the first, diplomatic correspondence between this country and Vietnam. On August 16, 1849, President Zachary Taylor wrote to “His Majesty the Magnificent King of Anam.” The letter reads in part:

Great and Good Friend!

To you, my Brother, the Great and Mighty King of Anam, I send love and goodwill, in this letter, by the hands of Mr. Joseph Balestier, my faithful and trusty Envoy and Minister to South Eastern Asia, to whom I give express orders to deliver it into your own Royal hands in order that you may understand how greatly I have been grieved to hear it said, that the Captain of one of my warships had misbehaved himself, four years ago, (which I have only heard of lately, for the first time, because your country is so far from mine) by landing men from his ship in Toorong Bay and firing on your people, and killing and Wounding some of them….