I. Reassessment, January 1-March 14, 1963: Hilsman-Forrestal Report, Wheeler Mission, Mansfield Report, Comprehensive Plan, Thompson Report
2. Memorandum for the Record by the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series-Vietnam. Confidential. Hilsman and Forrestal visited Vietnam from December 31, 1962, to January 9, 1963, during a fact-finding trip which began on December 28 with a stop in Honolulu for consultations with Admiral Felt, and concluded with stops in Laos, Thailand, and Indonesia before returning to Washington on January 15. According to Hilsman, the trip was undertaken at President Kennedy’s request “to see if there was anything more that might be done” to improve the situation in Vietnam. (Hilsman, To Move a Nation, p. 453) This memorandum is excerpted in Hilsman’s memoirs.(Ibid., pp. 453-454) It is one of 17 memoranda dictated by Hilsman on tape during the trip and subsequently transcribed. A few of the memoranda are dated; some, such as the one printed here, can be dated from references in the text. All apparently were dictated during the visit to South Vietnam. Nine of the memoranda are not printed here but are in the same file in the Kennedy Library. After resuming to Washington, Hilsman and Forrestal prepared a report on South Vietnam which was submitted to President Kennedy on January 25; see Document 19.
3. Memorandum for the Record by the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series—Vietnam. Confidential.
4. Memorandum for the Record by the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series—Vietnam. Confidential. Hilsman quotes extensively from this conversation in his memoirs, and describes it as “the most disturbing analysis on the military side” which he received during his trip. (Hilsman, To Move a Nation, pp. 454-455)
5. Memorandum for the Record by the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series-Vietnam. Confidential.
6. Memorandum for the Record by the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series-Vietnam.
7. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman) and General Roland H. Anthis
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series-Vietnam.
8. Memorandum for the Record by the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series-Vietnam.
9. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.551/1-1063. Top Secret. Drafted by Howard Meyers in G/PM and Fred Greene in INR. Cleared by James M. Montgomery in SEA and by Charles Maechling Jr., Director for Internal Defense in G/PM. Also cleared with DOD/ISA, JCS, and CIA.
10. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/1-1163. Secret. Repeated to CINCPAC.
11. Current Intelligence Memorandum Prepared in the Office of Current Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency
Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Vietnam Country Series, 1/63. The source text is labeled “Sanitized Copy,” and the original classification has been obliterated. Ellipses throughout the document are in the source text.
12. Report to the Special Group for Counterinsurgency
Source: Department of State, Special Group Counterinsurgency Files: Lot 68 D 451, Special Group (CI) 1/17/63-3/7/63. Confidential. Drafted in the Vietnam Working Group by Edmund H. Kelley. Circulated to the Special Group on January 15 under cover of a memorandum from Maechling, in anticipation of its January 17 meeting; see Dcoument 14.
13. Memorandum From the Director of the Vietnam Working Group (Wood) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Harriman)
Source: Department of State, Vietnam Working Group Files: Lot 67 D 54, Def 19-3 Equip and Supplies. Secret. Sent to Harriman through Edward Rice. Copies were also sent to U. Alexis Johnson and Henry Koren.
14. Minutes of a Meeting of the Special Group for Counterinsurgency
Source: Department of State, Special Group Counterinsurgency Files: Lot 68 D 451, Special Group (CI). Secret. Drafted by James W. Dingeman who is not listed among the participants.
15. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs Naval Aide (Bagley) to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Taylor)
Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T-240-69. Secret.
16. Letter From the Counselor of the Embassy in Vietnam (Manfull) to the Director of the Vietnam Working Group (Wood)
Source: Department of State, Vietnam Working Group Files: Lot 67 D 54, Def-19 Milit Assist-3rd country. Secret; Limit Distribution; Official-Informal.
17. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 951K.6211/1-2463. Confidential. Drafted on January 22 by Wood. Cleared by Frank P Lockhart, Harriman, Robert J. McCloskey, and in USIA by James N. Tull. Repeated to CINCPAC for POLAD.
18. Memorandum From the Commander in Chief, Pacific (Felt) to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files:FRC 69 A 3131, Vietnam 380 thru 381 1963. Secret.
19. Memorandum From the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman) and Michael V. Forrestal of the National Security Council Staff to the President
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Country Series-Vietnam. Secret. This report and the attached annex are summarized in Hilsman, To Move a Nation, pp. 463-466. The report, without the annex, is also printed in Pentagon Papers: Gravel Edition, Vol. 11, pp. 717-725.
20. National Security Action Memorandum No. 217
Source: Department of State, S/S-NSC Files: Lot 72 D 316,NSAMs. Sent to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator of AID.
21. Memorandum From Michael V. Forrestal of the National Security Council Staff to the President
Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Vietnam Country Series. Secret.
22. Memorandum From the Deputy Director of the Vietnam Working Group (Heavner) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Harriman)
Source: Department of State, Vietnam Working Group Files: Lot 67 D 54, Pol 13 Non-Party Blocs. Secret.
23. Memorandum From the Deputy Director of the United States Information Agency (Wilson) to the Director (Murrow)
Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 306, USIA/TAP Files: FRC 68 A 1415, CI-Vietnam. Eyes Only.
24. Letter From the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Harriman) to the Ambassador in Vietnam (Nolting)
Source: Department of State, Vietnam Working Group Files: Lot 67 D 54, PR-11 Press Relations. Secret. Drafted by Wood and Harriman.
25. Memorandum From the Director of the Vietnam Working Group (Wood) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Harriman)
Source: Department of State, Vietnam Working Group Files: Lot 67 D 54, LEG-Mansfield Report. Secret. Initialed by Wood.
26. Report by an Investigative Team Headed by the Chief of Staff, United States Army (Wheeler), to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T-181-69. Top Secret.
27. Memorandum From Michael V. Forrestal of the National Security Council Staff to the President
Source: Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Vietnam Country Series, Security 1963. Secret.
28. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Director, Pacific and Far East Division, United States Information Agency (Moore) to the Deputy Director (Wilson)
Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 306, USIA/IOPIR Files: FRC 68 A 1415, Vietnam-General & Personnel. Confidential.
29. Memorandum From Michael V. Forrestal of the National Security Council Staff to the President
Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Vietnam Country Series, 2/63-3/63. Secret.
30. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, PPV 7 S VIET-US. Confidential. Repeated to CINCPAC. This document and all subsequent documents cited in the PPV file should be cited as PPB. A copy of this telegram was placed in the President’s weekend reading file, February 9-10. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Vietnam Country Series, 2/63-3/63)
- The memorandum, as prepared for submission to the President, was undated. The date given here was handwritten on the source text.↩
- The source text does not provide a more specific date. According to telegram MACJ00 433 from General Wheeler at MAC/V headquarters to the Chairman of the JCS, January 21, the Wheeler team did not return from Southeast Asia to CINCPAC headquarters in Hawaii until the last week in January. Wheeler expected to work on the report in Hawaii and submit it to the JCS after the team’s anticipated return to Washington on January 30. (Ibid., T-184-69) In 1964, Wheeler recalled that when he returned to Washington, he reported first to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense, and then to President Kennedy. He reported to the President that things were going well in Vietnam militarily, but that “Ho Chi Minh was fighting the war for peanuts and if we ever expected to win that affair out there, we had to make him bleed a little bit.” The President, Wheeler recalled, “was quite interested in this.” (Kennedy Library, Oral History Program, Earle G. Wheeler interview, July 11, 1964)↩