Office of the Historian

37. Letter From the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Harriman) to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Taylor)1

Washington, February 9, 1963.

Dear Max: I had a good talk this morning with General Wheeler about his trip,2 and touched on the question of whether General Harkins should report direct to the Joint Chiefs, rather than CINCPAC. This was raised by the President and the Secretary of State in our meeting last week.

To cite detailed complaints would obscure the main issue which is that if we are to win in Viet-Nam, our people there must have the fullest possible authority with clear lines of responsibility. This is a war of constant, small incidents and innumerable daily problems of every kind. We must leave these decisions to those in the field and permit them to act as quickly as necessary.

What bothers us is that the basic command concept, namely, that there be the closest cooperation and coordination between our military and civilian activities, is not being carried out fully. It does exist in Viet-Nam and in Washington. CINCPAC, however, is off on the side without contact on the political and economic aspects. This is the basic weakness. We are satisfied that it both slows up decisions and leads to military decisions that have not been concerted with the political and economic considerations.

We feel strongly that there would be a substantial benefit if General Harkins as MACV would report directly to the Chiefs of Staff, obtaining, however, logistic support from CINCPAC. We have too much at stake to permit the sensitivity of command procedures to interfere with the most direct and effective channels.3

Sincerely,

W. Averell Harriman4
  1. Source: Library of Congress, Harriman Papers, TUVWXYZ. Personal and Confidential.↩
  2. See Document 36.↩
  3. In a letter of February 14, Taylor informed Harriman that he had “initiated a directive to the Joint Staff to review this command organization. In making it, we will give close attention to the views contained in your letter.” (Library of Congress, Harriman Papers, TUVWXYZ)↩
  4. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩