Eisenhower Library, “Project ‘Clean Up’, Indochina”
Memorandum for the Record by the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (Cutler)
At a meeting in the President’s office on October 18, a discussion took place between the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, relative to expenditures by the US Government in South Vietnam.
Mr. Wilson seemed to be of the opinion that it was hopeless to try to save South Vietnam, and that further expenditures were wasted money. Mr. Dulles pointed out that he had just written Mr. Wilson to the effect that a proposed $500 million program for South Vietnam “was silly”, but that some lesser amount for the purpose of building up a sufficient local force to insure internal stability and counteract subversion was reasonable and wise. He could not say what this would cost, but certainly he did not think it would cost more than $100 million.