437. Editorial Note
On May 10, 1962, at 4:30 p.m., the President met with his advisers in the White House to consider actions to arrest the deteriorating situation in Laos. Assistant Secretary of State Averell Harriman and other Department officials recommended to the President that the United States move the Seventh Fleet task force to the Gulf of Siam and send the 1,000-man U.S. Army battle group from Korat to the Nong Khai near the Thai border with Laos. The battle group had been in Thailand for a Thai-U.S. training exercise, codenamed Air Cobra. Finally, with a view to possible Thai participation in Laos, the Department of State recommended that the United States institute a longer range program of improved communications (especially roads) leading up to the Laos border. President Kennedy observed that Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and JCS Chairman General Lyman Lemnitzer were returning from South Vietnam to Washington within 2 days. Kennedy decided to await their return before making any final decisions, but he agreed as a “purely preparatory move” that units of the Seventh Fleet should be moved to the Gulf of Siam without public announcement. A May 10 memorandum from Michael V. Forrestal to the President with attached paper and a memorandum for the record, May 10, are printed in volume XXIV, pages 729–735.
On May 12, McNamara and Lemnitzer returned to Washington and met with the President and his advisers in a meeting at 4:30 p.m. Secretary of State Dean Rusk suggested that units of the Seventh Fleet already ordered into the area be given specific instructions on their deployment in Thailand. Secretary of Defense McNamara recommended that the Seventh Fleet’s aircraft carriers Valley Forge and Hancock (with escort vessels) be ordered to the vicinity of Bangkok. Airborne units in Okinawa and Clark Field should be alerted in support of the naval move. The President agreed with these recommendations and the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent the instructions to the Commander in Chief, Pacific, Admiral Felt. A memorandum of conversation, May 12, and JCS telegram 4527 to CINCPAC, May 12, are printed ibid., pages 745–746 and 754–755.
On the question of transferring the U.S. battle group to Nong Khai, Harriman recommended that the move be postponed for a day or two unless the situation in Laos deteriorated rapidly allowing time for a démarche with General Phoumi Nosavan and other Lao leaders. A memorandum from Forrestal to Kennedy, May 12, is printed ibid., pages 746–747.