Abner Moffat

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Abner Moffat was a US State Department employee in 1946.

A Far East expert, Moffat was sent to Vietnam in early December 1946 hoping to open meaningful negotiations with Ho Chi Minh. Having long sought US recognition and assistance with the expulsion of French interests from Vietnam, Ho met with Moffat and spoke again of his hopes for a relationship with the US. Unfortunately, when Moffat's orders arrived from Secretary of State Dean Acheson, they were essentially a confirmation of the US's decision to support France.

Bitterly disappointed in what he saw as a terrible step backwards in American diplomacy, Moffat was the last American governmental representative to meet with Ho Chi Minh.