After France requested U.S. assistance for its beleaguered force at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Radford suggested an aggressive stance toward the Viet Minh, recommending the U.S. threaten them with nuclear weapons as it had with the Chinese in Korea. He also advocated U.S. military intervention in the 1955 First Taiwan Strait Crisis as well as the 1956 Suez Crisis, but Eisenhower favored diplomatic approaches and threats of force.