74. Editorial Note

On the morning of February 6 McGeorge Bundy held a series of meetings at the residences of Ambassador Taylor and Deputy Ambassador Johnson with Vietnamese religious leaders, including Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Saigon; Tran Quang Vinh, Cao Dai leader; Luong Trong Tuong, Hoa Hao leader; Thich Thien Minh, Buddhist leader; and Tran Quang Thuan, a prominent Buddhist layman. Ambassador Taylor took part in the first two meetings and briefly, along with Leonard Unger, in the meeting with Tran Quang Thuan. A schedule of the meetings is in the Johnson Library, National Security File, International Meetings and Travel File, McGeorge Bundy—Saigon, Vol. I.

First Secretary of Embassy Frederick W. Flott prepared draft memoranda of conversation for the first two meetings. James D. Rosenthal of the Embassy’s Political Section prepared draft memoranda of conversation for the last three. The memorandum of conversation with Thich Thien Minh is ibid. The other four are in Washington National Records Center, RG 84, Saigon Embassy Files: FRC 68 A 5612, ORG 7 Visits. Regarding Bundy’s reaction to these meetings, see Cooper, Lost Crusade, page 257.