303. Editorial Note

On March 7, 1963, Presidentʼs Special Representative Bowles wrote in a memorandum to President Kennedy that he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Vietnam and argued that “we should seek ways to widen our present set of political choices in dealing with the area as a whole and with Vietnam in particular. I believe that the time may be ripe, for instance, for a discreet, noncommittal, and confidential approach to the USSR in which the potential dangers to both Moscow and Washington that the Vietnam impasse contains may be underscored.” For text, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume III, pages 136140.