Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume III, Vietnam, June–December 1965

118. Memorandum From the Ambassador-Designate to Vietnam (Lodge) to President Johnson¹

Washington, August 11, 1965.

1. Spent one-half hour with General Eisenhower as you requested.

2. He opposes “dribbling” forces into Viet Nam little by little and favors using adequate forces at once to do the job. He opposes American troops “living in the jungle” saying “we don’t know how to live there”. He approves development of strong points along the coast. He wants no formal announcements of total U.S. troop strength. Such announcements give the Viet Cong a pretext to raise their demands on Hanoi, Peking and Moscow. I understand all the above has been conveyed to you already by General Goodpaster.²

3. He stressed the overriding importance of Viet Nam wanting to be free. We should do everything to inculcate such a desire. They must have “heart” or, after we have achieved a successful outcome, they will slump right back. It would be tragic if a successful outcome were followed by an election in which the people voted for the Viet Cong. I told him our plans regarding Lansdale were aimed precisely at such a contingency. He suggested a scheme whereby there would be immediate delivery, “using old C-47’s”, to small communities of rice, fish, medicines, or other morale boosting goods to be flown in promptly for distribution by local chiefs. I told him we had this in mind and that I believed AID was set to make such local distribution.³

H.C. Lodge

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Name File, President Eisenhower. Confidential. There is an indication on the source text that Johnson saw the memorandum.
2. See Document 104.
3. Goodpaster briefed Eisenhower again on August 20, at President Johnson’s request. Goodpaster reviewed military developments in Vietnam and stressed the continuity of Vietnam policy from the Eisenhower to Johnson administration. (Memorandum for the record, August 20; Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Vietnam, Eisenhower Briefing)