83. Editorial Note
The Bundy mission departed Saigon the afternoon of Sunday, February 7, and arrived back in Washington at approximately 10 p.m. As Bundy described their schedule upon returning to Washington, in a background press briefing: [Page 174]
“We were to have spent Sunday on a series of field expeditions in the neighborhood of Saigon examining various aspects of the fortification program but Sunday morning began for us as Sunday noon began here with the news of the attacks centering on Pleiku but not limited to Pleiku and we joined in the process of making sure that the views and opinions and attitudes of the country team were adequately and clearly reported to Washington while the President and the NSC were viewing the situation and making their immediate decisions. At the time I decided it would be more useful for us to get back here as rapidly as possible. We rescheduled the aircraft as early as it could be managed to bring it in from Clark Field. We cancelled the planned stop-over in Honolulu, came home the straight route. There was, however, time available before that return could be organized for General Goodpaster and for me to go with General Westmoreland to look at the airfield at Pleiku and fly over the compound nearby and then to visit the field hospital halfway back toward Saigon and then we took off Sunday afternoon, Saigon time.” (Transcript of a White House Background Briefing by McGeorge Bundy and George Reedy, February 8, 1965; Johnson Library, National Security File, International Meetings and Travel File, McGeorge Bundy—Saigon, Vol. I)
For Chester Cooper’s reminiscences of the journey back to Washington and Bundy’s drafting of his report aboard the plane, see Cooper’s “Fateful Day in Vietnam—10 Years Ago,” The Washington Post, February 11, 1975, page A–14.