Office of the Historian

265. Memorandum From the Secretary of Defense’s Deputy Assistant for Special Operations (Lansdale) to the Deputy Secretary of Defense (Douglas)1

Washington, December 14, 1960.

SUBJECT

  • Trip to Asia

In view of Admiral Felt’s personal message about the purpose of my visiting Vietnam,2 I believe it is necessary to have this purpose clarified. My own understanding was that I would go to Vietnam for you and Secretary Gates, with the concurrence of Allen Dulles and of State Department officials, to do the following:

a.
Make full use of the personal confidence which President Ngo Dinh Diem feels towards me to make certain that we have the fullest possible understanding of the facts, problems, and possible answers in Vietnam as President Diem sees them. There is a continuing and strong indication that he does not feel that his situation and ideas are being grasped and reported fully enough to permit real Vietnamese-American team-work. My role would be to assure that top U.S. officials truly have Diem’s views.
b.
Making use of this same trusted relationship, it may be that I can be of some use in assisting in bringing about the Vietnamese-American team-work which the facts indicate to top U.S. officials.

I believe that it would be most important to the success of my mission to have your concurrence in the above two phases.3

  1. Source: Stanford University, Hoover Institution, Lansdale Papers, Vietnam, Lansdale Trip 1961. Confidential.↩
  2. Supra.↩
  3. In message Def 987217 to CINCPAC dated December 14, marked “From Douglas, Personal for Admiral Felt”, the Deputy Secretary stated: “I do not share your concern about any differences as to purpose of General Lansdale’s proposed trip. He will, of course, support the current national plan to which you refer and I expect he can be very helpful in its implementation. General Lansdale expects to work closely with you. Ambassador Durbrow and General McGarr. Also Secretary Gates and I are interested in having first-hand suggestions from General Lansdale on the whole situation in Vietnam, and I am confident that this will be equally helpful to you.” (Stanford University, Hoover Institution, Lansdale Papers, Vietnam, Lansdale Trip 1961.)↩