Office of the Historian

209. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Rusk and the President’s Special Assistant (Valenti)1

November 28, 1965, 2:05 p.m.

TELEPHONE CALL TO VALENTI (AT THE RANCH)

Sec. said he couldn’t reach McGeorge Bundy; wanted to find out whether a copy of the memorandum of conversation between B. and Dobrynin2 had reached the President. V. said it was on the President’s desk now. Sec. said to tell the President that he thinks references in there to a pause are very important and that it seems to him that it would be useful to have McNamara bring Amb. Lodge back with him so we can go into this matter a bit;3 a time problem involved because McNamara might be leaving Saigon tonight. Sec. asked that the President him [give] him a ring or the Sec. will check in with him in an hour or two.

  1. Source: Department of State, Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192, Telephone Conversations. No classification marking. Secretary Rusk was in Washington; Valenti was in Texas.↩
  2. See footnote 5, Document 208.↩
  3. According to telegram 1484 to Saigon for McNamara, November 28, the President did not wish Lodge to return with McNamara after the latter’s trip to Saigon November 28-29. This did not preclude the possibility of Lodge returning to Washington in the near future. (Department of State, Central Files, ORG 7 OSD)↩