Historical Documents - Office of the Historian

Washington, January 4, 1965.

1.: Bob McNamara called this morning on other matters, and I asked him what he thought of the State of the Union.2 He said he liked it, but had one worry. He wonders whether the statements on Vietnam on pages 6 and 7 are too strong in the light of our current policy. I said that they were no stronger than things we had said a dozen times before, but I gathered from Bob that he thought they were stronger than our actions. I get the implication that he fears that if we do not intend stronger action, we may regret these sentences.
2.: My own view is that, whatever we may decide to do on particular matters in the coming months, it is absolutely essential to maintain a [Page 8] posture of firmness today. I believe that without firm U.S. language, the danger of further erosion in Saigon is bound to grow. I therefore not only approve, but strongly recommend, the language on pages 6 and 7. Nevertheless, I think you should know Bob’s worry.

McG. B.3

Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President, McGeorge Bundy, Vol. VIII. No classification marking.↩
President Johnson delivered his Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union at 9:04 p.m. on January 4, 1965. For text of the address, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, Book I, pp. 1–9.↩
Printed from a copy that bears these typed initials.↩

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