Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume II, Vietnam, January–June 1965

219. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Bundy) to Secretary of State Rusk¹

Washington, March 28, 1965.

SUBJECT

• Major Issues During Ambassador Taylor’s Visit²

I have gone over the principal papers that Ambassador Taylor has brought with him.³ They raise a number of matters that can be dealt with, at least in the first instance, by his appointments in State, DoD, AID, and USIA. However, I thought it would be useful for you to have a preliminary indication of the major issues and the positions that have been recommended to the Ambassador by the Mission elements.

1. Need for US Forces. MACV has not included third country forces, such as a ROK division, in its analysis. It has prepared a detailed “Commander’s Estimate”⁴ which will be briefed to the DoD/JCS session Monday⁵ and which recommends the introduction of a US division and the filling out of the Marine units, for a total of approximately 33,000 combat personnel. I am not clear whether this includes all the supporting and logistics personnel incident to this additional deployment.

This combat deployment would be over and above recommended increases of approximately 18,000 in assorted units and logistics personnel separate from the combat deployment. The 18,000 figure breaks down into approximately 6,000 of increments to existing units, and 12,000 of new units, with the main element in the latter about 7,000 for the “logistics command.”

Our present strength in SVN is given as 28,669 so that we are dealing with recommendations that would bring it to the level of 80,000 or higher under both headings.

2. “Negotiating” Policy and Tactics. The Embassy has supplied excellent papers on this subject, which we will have copied and distributed Monday. They focus on much the same issues that we are touching on in the present draft pronouncement,⁶ and that are analyzed in more detail in my memorandum of March 19.⁷ I will inform the Ambassador Monday morning of the status of the pronouncement and give him a copy of our own analysis of March 19.

3. Tempo of Operations against the DRV. The Embassy staff is recommending an increase in tempo, including additional strikes above the 20th parallel. They are also recommending immediate introduction of a leaflet operation as part of the program.

The Mission has also supplied useful papers on the question of blockade or aerial mining of the ports. The staff conclusion is that these steps should be further studied, but not carried out for the time being.

4. Non-military Measures. A very lengthy Mission cable has already given preliminary responses to the list of 41 points,⁸ and we will break out these and isolate the key issuses with Ambassador Taylor in our first State meeting Monday morning.⁹

William P. Bundy¹⁰

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Vietnam, Vol. XXXI, Memos. Top Secret; Eyes Only. Also sent to McNamara and McGeorge Bundy.
2. Taylor left Saigon on March 27 and arrived in Washington the following day. Other members of his party included General De Puy and Lieutenant Colonel Montague of MACV, Leroy S. Wehrle of USOM, and H. Freeman Matthews, Jr., of the Embassy’s Political Section. A proposed program for Taylor’s visit, March 28–April 3, was attached to Unger’s March 25 memorandum to William Bundy and others. (Ibid.)
3. Presumably a reference to some of the nearly 40 briefing papers prepared in Saigon in response to Mission Council Action Memorandum No. 80, March 22, to which was attached a list of the subjects to be covered in the briefing papers. (Department of State, FE Files: Lot 69 D 74, EA)
4. “Commander’s Estimate of the Situation in South Vietnam,” March 26. (Center of Military History, Westmoreland Papers, History Backup)
5. March 29.
6. Presumably a reference to the draft of the speech the President gave at Johns Hopkins University on April 7; see Document 245.
7. Document 207.
8. Telegram 3114 from Saigon, March 27. (Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 VIET S)
9. No record of Taylor’s meeting at the Department of State on March 29 has been found. Blouin’s memorandum for the record of Taylor’s meeting at the Department of State at 10:30 a.m. on March 30 with representatives from various agencies to discuss non-military programs in South Vietnam is in Washington National Records Center, RG 330,OSD/ISA Files: FRC 75–163, VN Chron.
10. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.