436. Editorial Note
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lyman Lemnitzer were in Athens for the North Atlantic Council meeting of Foreign and Defense Ministers May 3–6, 1962. According to Lemnitzer’s recollections, they received instructions from President Kennedy to go at once to Thailand and determine: 1) whether the Mekong River would be considered an effective barrier to Pathet Lao/North Vietnamese advance and 2) whether Thai forces had the capability of preventing a Communist forces invasion of northern Thailand. Lemnitzer recalls that he and McNamara traveled non-stop to Bangkok and then transferred to a C-47 aircraft. They flew along the Mekong River at heights of 100–200 feet and quickly realized that the river posed no obstacle at all. It was the dry season and the water level had dropped so low that McNamara and Lemnitzer saw people wading across the river. They then inspected some Thai military posts and concluded that, as currently positioned, Thai troops would not be able to block a Communist crossing. (Interview of General Lyman Lemnitzer by Walker S. Poole, JCS History Division, December 16, 1976; as cited in Walker S. Poole, The History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, volume VII: 1961–1962, Part II, The Succession of Crisis, pages 126–127)
McNamara, Lemnitzer, Young, and others met with Sarit and leading Thai military and government officials on May 9. They discussed Laos, Thai defense needs and plans, the U.S. response to the Laos crisis, suggested Thai actions, and U.S. assistance to the Thai military. In the discussion of how to respond to the crisis in Laos, McNamara specifically asked whether the presence of U.S. troops in Thailand caused any political problems. Sarit answered that it did not. (Memorandum of conversation, May 9; Department of State, FE/SEA/Thai Files: Lot 66 D 298, 19.1 US Visits to Thailand, January through July 1962)