261. Memorandum for Personal Files1
SUBJECT
- Conversation with the Secretary following the President’s telephone call to me2 to travel to certain capitals
The Secretary took a negative view. I told him the President told me “Don’t let Dean talk you out of it.” He proposed my going to Paris to see Chauvel.3 Also to Rome and Iran. I said I wasn’t going to Iran—that would not achieve the President’s purposes, and there was also no use my trying to twist people’s arms to increase aid to Viet-Nam during the bomb pause; and anyway the President wanted me to be able to testify when I got back that he had sent me to go the last mile in trying to come to a settlement.
He seems opposed to my seeing Bo. He says we are making a contact. He didn’t tell me who. He said he would talk to the President this afternoon. I said the President wanted me to go today. That seemed to [Page 730] take him aback. I said it wasn’t much time before the end of the year and the President wants the time to be used.
He is afraid talking to the Hungarians would put them on the spot and be counterproductive. I asked him why, because I understood they had indicated that we hadn’t taken their contact sufficiently seriously.
He said “You and Tommy4 talk it over some more.” Tommy suggested I talk to Alex to see whether the South Vietnamese wouldn’t be terribly upset. I said “Tommy, this is the President of the United States, not South Viet-Nam, whom you are working for. South Viet-Nam we can protect as much as possible, but the President has the job of convincing Congress he has made the last effort. Anyway, Alex is basically opposed to talks.” He suggested going to Paris, Rome, Yugoslavia, which could be done without any harm. I said that wouldn’t equip me to testify that we had run down every lead.
- Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Divison, Harriman Papers, Secretary Rusk, 1963-1966. No classification marking. Drafted by Harriman.↩
- See Document 256.↩
- See footnote 6, Document 236.↩
- Llewellyn E. Thompson.↩