2. Memorandum From Senator Mike Mansfield to the President1
SUBJECT
- Viet Namese Situation
This memo is responsive to your telephone request during Christmas week to Frank Valeo.2 I have discussed the request with him and would respectfully refer you to my memo of December 7th, a copy of which is enclosed.3
[Page 3]As you remarked to him on the telephone, we do not want another China in Viet Nam. I would respectfully add to this observation: Neither do we want another Korea. It would seem that a key (but often overlooked) factor in both situations was a tendency to bite off more than we were prepared in the end to chew. We tended to talk ourselves out on a limb with overstatements of our purpose and commitment only to discover in the end that there were not sufficient American interests to support with blood and treasure a desperate final plunge. Then, the questions followed invariably: “Who got us into this mess?” “Who lost China?” etc.
We are close to the point of no return in Viet Nam. A way to avoid another Korea and, perhaps, another China may be found in the general policy approach suggested in the memo of December 7th. If so, there ought to be less official talk of our responsibility in Viet Nam and more emphasis on the responsibilities of the Vietnamese themselves and a great deal of thought on the possibilities for a peaceful solution through the efforts of other nations as well as our own.
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Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Vietnam Country File, Vol. 11, Memos and Misc. No classification marking. Attached to the source text is a note from McGeorge Bundy to Rusk and McNamara, January 6, which reads as follows:
“The President received the enclosed papers this morning from Senator Mansfield, and asks if each of you would write a personal memorandum of refutation which he can review and then use with Senator Mansfield if he wishes, not later than Wednesday morning.”
↩ - No record of this telephone conversation has been found.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. IV, pp. 691–692.↩