Office of the Historian

49. Note From the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Bundy) to Secretary of State Rusk1

Washington, May 15, 1964.

For your luncheon with the President2 I have the following points:

1. Indonesia/Malaysia.

a.
Lopez hits Kuala Lumpur Saturday (tonight) and this is obviously virtually a make-or-break stage on the summit. Jones is urging a Presidential or Secretary statement of encouragement tomorrow (Lopez sees the Tunku Sunday afternoon). We clearly oppose a Presidential statement at this point, but it would be highly useful if you yourself were going to be holding a press conference today or tomorrow. Failing that, we would put a rather full statement out through the Department spokesman.3
b.
We have in the White House a request for a Presidential invitation for the Tunku to come on an official visit in July after the Commonwealth Prime Ministers. If the President could agree to this (even without necessarily specifying dates) it would give Bell a superb handle to talk further to the Malaysians tomorrow—which he should do in any event—and would give a most useful fillip to the Malaysian state of mind at this point. I urge strongly that you try to clear this with the President at or around the luncheon.4 I attach the paper as it went over.5
c.
The Malaysians are definitely delaying their letter to the President of the SC until after the Lopez visit. I think they should be persuaded to hold off on it until we see finally whether or not the summit can be put together. We cabled you on this in The Hague, and it would be helpful to know whether you had a chance to talk with Butler. We [Page 111] would like to make the point to the British today and need to know the state of the bidding.

[Here follow 2 paragraphs on Vietnam.]

WPB
  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, POL 32–1 INDON–MALAYSIA. Secret. Attached, but not printed, was a draft memorandum to the President recommending that he invite Tunku to visit the United States, July 8–15. There is an indication on the note that Rusk saw it.↩
  2. The President met for lunch with McNamara, Rusk, Senator William Fulbright, and McGeorge Bundy at 1:20 p.m. (Johnson Library, President’s Daily Diary) There is no indication in the President’s Diary when the meeting ended, but Rusk’s next appointment at the Department of State was at 2:38 p.m. (Ibid., Rusk Appointment Book) No other record of this meeting has been found.↩
  3. Rusk did not hold a press conference on May 15 or 16 and no statement by the spokesman has been found.↩
  4. A note in the margin apparently in Bundy’s hand reads: “Macapagal has scrubbed, so there is a hole he can move into.”↩
  5. Attached, but not printed.↩