320. Editorial Note
According to his Appointment Book, President Kennedy met on August 28, 1961, from 5 to 6:15 p.m. with Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Woodward, Deputy Assistant Secretary Coerr, Office of Caribbean and Mexican Affairs officers Edwin Vallon, John Crimmins, and Charles Torrey, Director of the Office of Inter-American Regional Political Affairs Edward Jamison, Ambassador Robert Murphy, Barnes [text not declassified] of the CIA, and Presidential Special Assistants Stephen Smith, Goodwin, and Schlesinger about the Dominican situation. (Kennedy Library) No memorandum of the conversation was found.
A State Department memorandum of a conversation among Under Secretary Ball, Woodward, Crimmins, and Jamison, dated August 29, details actions to be taken as a result of the meeting. (Department of State, Central Files, 739.00/8-2961)
U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States DeLesseps Morrison was to condemn the repressive incidents that had marred the Balaguer government’s democratization program. Consul General Hill would make clear U.S. support for this program and inform Ramfis Trujillo that the United States would view with serious concern an overthrow of the Balaguer government. Additionally, a field-level U.S. military mission was to be established in the Dominican Republic, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Morales-Carrion was to be dispatched with Ambassador Murphy “to explain our plans and gain consent to them from the various elements.”