Office of the Historian

95. Memorandum for the Record1

Washington, May 25, 1965, 10:06–11:32 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • Meeting at the White House, 25 May, 10:00 a.m., on The Dominican Republic;
  • Mr. [name not declassified] accompanied the Director2
1.
McGeorge Bundy will return tomorrow (26 May).
2.
They will get an agreed upon position between SecState, McNamara and Bill Moyers as to what should be said and SecState will hold press statements.
3.
Mora and IAF will handle business with strong U.S. representative.
4.
Withdraw U.S. troops man-for-man replacement from Latin America.3
5.
Studies will be made by U.S. military for Mora to see what further reductions in U.S. troops can be made.
6.
State will have to have contingency plans with people who will be satisfactory to U.S., for the Dominican Republic Cabinet.
7.
Ambassador Bunker will keep OAS informed.
8.
President feels that our Latin American ambassadors have not told our Dominican Republic story promptly or good!
9.
Have [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] supported our Ambassadors in providing them with story or is this State?
10.
President would like State and Defense to initiate an OAS elite force (2000 men with planes, tanks, etc.) to take care of future Dominican Republic situations. We should participate in this planning (CIA). Get in touch with State and Defense and stay close to this effort—we should have a place in such effort.
11.
What is status of our analysis of Bosch?
12.
Vance will stay for a while yet to fill “gap” until OAS commission arrives.
13.
President concerned about instable conditions in Latin America. He feels that our plans are weak to handle contingencies.
14.
We have invited suggestions through our ambassadors on how to handle Dominican Republic conditions—but so far no helpful suggestions have been received from them!
15.
[less than 1 line of source text not declassified] must have placed in their hands a full story on the Dominican Republic to acquaint their contacts in Latin America. Get from State.
  1. Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Registry Files, Job 80–R01580R, Box 15, Dominican Republic, Folder 302. Secret; Eyes Only. Prepared by Raborn on May 26. The time of the meeting is from the Presidentʼs Daily Diary. (Johnson Library)↩
  2. According to a May 26 CIA memorandum of this meeting, Raborn and his associate [name not declassified] were in attendance as were President Johnson, Bunker, Rusk, McNamara, Mann, Fortas, Ball, Vaughn, Moyers, Valenti, and Bromley Smith. (Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Registry Files, Job 80–R01580R, Box 15, Dominican Republic, Folder 302) Valentiʼs handwritten notes of this meeting state that George Reedy was also present. (Johnson Library, Office of the President File, Valenti Meeting Notes)↩
  3. The memorandum cited in footnote 2 above, includes the following: “The President said that he wanted some of our troops to start moving out since there were already some 500 Latin American troops in place. Secretary McNamara said this would be started and that the first group of about 400 would be evacuated by the evening of 27 May. He added that the remainder—to reach about 1700—would be evacuated soon after the Brazilian contingent arrives. Our goal is to be down to about 10,000 troops under the Inter-American Force.” (Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Registry Files, Job 80–R01580R, Box 15, Dominican Republic, Folder 302)↩