National Security Policy


31. Memorandum for President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSC Organization and Administration 5/6/61-7/25/61. No classification marking. There is no drafting information on the source text.


32. National Security Action Memorandum No. 55

Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Folder T-636-7. Secret. Another copy is in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAM 55. For an account of the origin of NSAM No. 55, see Maxwell D. Taylor, Swords and Plowshares: A Memoir (New York: W.W. Norton, 1972), p. 189. On June 26, President Kennedy appointed Taylor as his Military Representative. Concerning his assigned duties, see ibid., pp. 196-197.


33. National Security Action Memorandum No. 56

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAM 56. Secret. Copies were sent to Secretary Rusk, Allen Dulles, and General Taylor.


34. National Security Action Memorandum No. 57

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAM 57. Secret. A copy was sent to General Taylor.


35. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to Secretary of Defense McNamara

Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 65 A 3464, 381 BNSP 18 Apr 61. Secret. Another copy indicates the letter was drafted in S/P. (Department of State, Central Files, 711.5/7-961) Forwarded to Rusk under a June 27 memorandum from George McGhee. (Ibid. 711.5/6-2761)


36. National Intelligence Estimate

Source: Central Intelligence Agency Files, Job 79-R01012A, ODDI Registry. Top Secret. A dissemination notice and table of contents are not printed. According to a note on a covering page, the estimate was submitted by the Director of Central Intelligence. The CIA and the intelligence organizations of the Departments of State, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Joint Staff participated in the drafting. The estimate was concurred in by the U.S. Intelligence Board on January 17. The Atomic Energy Commission Representative to the USIB, and the Assistant Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, abstained because the subject was outside their jurisdiction.


37. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the President’s Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kaysen) and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Rowen)

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Carl Kaysen Series, BNSP 7/61-11/61. Top Secret. Drafted by Kaysen.


38. Letter From the Deputy Secretary of Defense (Gilpatric) to Secretary of State Rusk

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 711.5/7-1461. Secret.


40. Memorandum of Conference With President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Chester V. Clifton Series, Conferences with the President, Volume I. Top Secret. Drafted by Clifton.


43. Memorandum From the President’s Military Representative (Taylor) to President Kennedy

Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, 38 500a Air Access. Top Secret.


44. Memorandum of Conference With President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Chester V. Clifton Series, Conferences with the President 3/61-9/61. Top Secret. Drafted by Clifton. According to an earlier draft of this memorandum, the fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs are based on notes taken by General Taylor. (Ibid.)


45. National Intelligence Estimate

Source: Central Intelligence Agency Files, Job 79-R01012A, ODDI Registry. Top Secret; [codeword not declassified]. A note on the cover sheet indicates that the estimate was submitted by the Director of Central Intelligence and prepared by the CIA and the intelligence organizations of the Departments of State, Defense, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, the Joint Staff, the National Security Agency, and the Atomic Energy Commission. The members of the U.S. Intelligence Board concurred, except the Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who abstained because the subject was outside his jurisdiction. For complete text of NIE 11-8/1-61, see the Supplement.


46. Draft Memorandum From Secretary of Defense McNamara to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Defense Budget FY 63, 1/61-10/61. Top Secret. This draft memorandum was received in the White House shortly after September 23. It is Appendix I to Document 50.


47. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Lemnitzer) to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, JCS General 1961. Top Secret. Attached to a September 28 covering note from Clifton to Taylor which reads in part: “When the President returns from Newport we can give him as much material as he needs.” The President and his party arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, from New York on September 26 and returned to Washington on October 2.


48. Draft Memorandum From Secretary of Defense McNamara to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Defense Budget FY 63 1/61-10/61. Secret. This draft memorandum is Appendix II to Document 50, but was circulated in advance of it.


49. Memorandum From the Joint Chiefs of Staff to President Kennedy

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 218, JCS Records, JMF 2210 (27 Sep 61). Top Secret; Restricted Data.


50. Draft Memorandum From Secretary of Defense McNamara to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Department of Defense, FY 1963 Defense Budget 1/61-10/61. Top Secret. No final version of this memorandum has been found. It was McNamara’s practice to circulate the final versions of budget memoranda in draft form. Concerning the role and significance of McNamara’s Draft Presidential Memoranda, or DPMs, see Alain Enthoven and K. Wayne Smith, How Much Is Enough? Shaping the Defense Program, 1961-1969 (New York: Harper and Row, 1971), pp. 53-58.


51. Memorandum From Secretary of Defense McNamara to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Department of Defense Budget 63, 1/61-10/61. Secret.


52. Paper Issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD McNamara Files: FRC 71 A 3470, SIOP. Top Secret. This paper forms the appendix to an October 27 memorandum signed by Rear Admiral F. J. Blouin, Secretary of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which distributed it for implementation to the Joint Chiefs, major commanders, and to CINCSAC in his capacity as Director of Strategic Target Planning.


53. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to the President’s Military Representative (Taylor)

Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T-357-69. Top Secret. A copy of the attachment to this letter is in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, Defense Budget FY 1963 1/61-10/61. According to a November 6 memorandum for the record by Major William Y. Smith of Taylor’s staff, the attachment was drafted in S/P. (National Defense University, Taylor Papers, FY 63 Budget #1)


54. Memorandum From the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Secretary of Defense McNamara

Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 65 A 3464, Atomic 471.61 29 Aug 61. Top Secret.


56. Special National Intelligence Estimate

Source: Central Intelligence Agency Files, Job 79-R01012A, ODDI Registry. Top Secret; Formerly Restricted Data. A note on the cover sheet indicates that the special estimate was submitted by the Director of Central Intelligence and prepared by the intelligence organizations of the Departments of State, Defense, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, the Joint Staff, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the National Security Agency. The members of the U.S. Intelligence Board concurred except the Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who abstained because the subject was outside his jurisdiction.


57. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kaysen) to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, FY 1963 Defense Budget 11/61-12/61. Top Secret. Forwarded to the President with several other documents, including Document 58. In a November 22 covering memorandum, Bundy commented that this memorandum “sketches the argument for a much smaller strategic force than McNamara is arguing. This is well worth attention because the argument is not developed anywhere else in your papers.” (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, FY 1963 Defense Budget 11/16-12/61)


58. Memorandum From the President’s Military Representative (Taylor) to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, FY 1963 Defense Budget 11/61-12/61. Secret. Forwarded to the President with several other documents, including Document 57. In his November 22 covering memorandum, Bundy commented concerning this memorandum: “Most of the rest of us do not agree with it, but his argument is interesting.” (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, FY 1963 Defense Budget 11/61-12/61)


59. National Security Action Memorandum No. 114

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAM 114. Secret. Copies were sent to McNamara, Robert Kennedy, Director of the Bureau of the Budget Bell, Allen Dulles, and General Taylor.


60. Memorandum From the President’s Military Representative (Taylor) to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Departments and Agencies Series, DOD Budget 1963 11/61-12/61. Secret.