45. Editorial Note
Pursuant to the Presidential directive at the National Security Council meeting on April 27, 1961, (Document 36), Secretary of State Rusk discussed the situation in Viet-Nam at his press conference on May 4, 1961. Using some of the figures in the first several paragraphs of the Program for Viet-Nam (Document 42), Rusk indicated the seriousness of the threat and reported the measures which the United States had taken to assist President Diem. For text of Rusk’s statement and the questions and answers that followed, see Department of State Bulletin, May 22, 1961, pages 756-763.