Office of the Historian

110. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to the President1

Washington, April 9, 1964.

SUBJECT

  • Mission for Secretary of State

I talked to my brother about the specific mission which you have in mind for the Secretary of State,2 and he reports the following. This has been discussed in the Department, with Ball and Manning in favor, with the Far Eastern experts evenly balanced, and with the Secretary so far not deciding to do it.

Bill himself thinks that the considerations are quite evenly balanced. On the one hand, we have had so much high level visiting at Saigon that there is always something to be said for not putting another top level mission in. Moreover, the Secretary has a very strenuous schedule already with the SEATO meeting3 and a visit to Taiwan.

On the other hand, there is some feeling in the Department that our posture is too McNamara-warlike and that it would be helpful to the Department and to the Secretary for him to spend a day with the Ambassador and with Khanh.

[Page 231]

Bill agrees with me that the balance of considerations is tilted quite positively if the picture of this trip is that you have asked the Secretary to make it. We have to be careful not to undercut Bob in this, but I think we can manage that side with an announcement something like the following for George Reedy either tonight or tomorrow:

“The President had a good discussion with the Secretary on Thursday afternoon of the issues which will come up at the SEATO meeting in Manila.4 The President also requested Secretary Rusk to extend his visit to the Far East to include a visit to Saigon as a followup to the recent visit of Secretary McNamara. The President’s desire is to take the occasion of the Secretary’s visit to the SEATO meeting to ensure continued effective consultation with General Khanh and Ambassador Lodge.”

McG.B.5
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President, McGeorge Bundy, Vol. 3. Confidential.↩
  2. See Document 111.↩
  3. April 13–15.↩
  4. On April 9, Rusk conferred with the President from 6:30 to 7 p.m. No record of that meeting has been found. Johnson Library, President’s Daily Diary)↩
  5. Printed from a copy that bears these typed initials.↩