26. Editorial Note
On December 5, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson chaired the first National Security Council meeting of his administration. Because there was no Vice President, the President invited Representative Sam Rayburn of Texas to attend National Security Council meetings “from time to time as his schedule permitted.” Rayburn was Johnson’s successor in the event of the President’s death in office. For an outline of remarks Bundy prepared for the President and the summary record of this 520th NSC meeting, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume VIII, Documents 149 and 150. See also Smith, Organizational History of the National Security Council, page 57.