Office of the Historian

117. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the Under Secretary of State (Ball) and Director of Central Intelligence McCone1

Washington, March 14, 1965, 10:30 a.m.

McCone mentioned two cables2 were in on the subject they had discussed last night; asked if Ball was having a meeting on this subject. Ball suggested a meeting at 11:30.3 [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] from McCone’s shop will represent them.

One serious aspect pointed out by McCone was he thought we should alert the oil interests there.4 From available information, the [Page 251] grab will go forward. They would impound all tankers in the dock. We ought to get out. Ball agreed.

McCone felt we should explore what might be done constructively to offer some hope to elements who are not all wedded to this philosophy of Sukarno and Subandrio. In this respect he mentioned [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] who because of his identification with the conservative political elements friendly to the West, has become obscure.5

  1. Source: Johnson Library, Ball Papers, Telephone Conversations, Indonesia, [4/12/64–11/10/65]. Confidential.↩
  2. Not further identified.↩
  3. No record of this meeting has been found.↩
  4. On March 16 Robert Barnett met with 10 U.S. oil company representatives, 2 U.S. rubber representatives, and a representative of Pan American Airlines to brief them on the Indonesian situation. (Memorandum of conversation, March 16; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, POL INDON–US)↩
  5. On March 15 Ball telephoned McGeorge Bundy to express his concern about Indonesia which was “moving very rapidly in the wrong direction and picking up a certain amount of momentum.” Ball noted that Indonesia was the fifth largest country in the world, was strategically located, and “may be more important to us than South V–N.” Ball suggested that the President should have a chance to look at Indonesian policy. Bundy asked Ball to prepare a 2–3 page paper outlining policy choices. (Johnson Library, Ball Papers, Telephone Conversations, [4/12/64–11/10/65])↩