Office of the Historian

112. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Johnson1

Washington, December 4, 1965.

The Shah has promised to send a medical team to Vietnam, and we recommend the attached note thanking him.2

He has been in one of his gloomy moods lately, fearing that we’re backing away from him. (Ayub’s experience has shaken him badly.) But his heart is in the right place; he approved the team almost on the spot because he knows of your personal interest. So this is an inexpensive way of showing you haven’t deserted him.3

McG.B.
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Special Head of State Correspondence File—Iran, Shah Correspondence, Vol. I. Limited Official Use. A handwritten notation on the source text indicates that it was received at the LBJ Ranch on December 10 at 9:30 a.m. A second handwritten notation reads: “Passed to Bromley Smith 12–11–65, 3:45 p. JJ.”↩
  2. Attached to the source text is a copy of telegram 683 to Tehran, December 13, transmitting the President’s message of thanks to the Shah.↩
  3. The approval line is checked on the source text.↩