May 4–31: Opening of the Peace Negotiations and the May Offensive


252. Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, IS/OIS Files: Lot 90 D 345, Paris Peace Conference on Vietnam, 1968–1969, Delto Chron. Secret; Immediate; Nodis/Harvan. Received at 4:49 p.m.


253. Notes of Meeting

Source: Johnson Library, Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings. Top Secret. The breakfast meeting, which ended at 10:50 a.m., was held at the White House. (Ibid., President’s Daily Diary) Vance had returned from Paris the previous day.


254. Notes of Meeting

Source: Johnson Library, Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings. Top Secret. The meeting ended at 7:24 p.m. Those attending were the President, the Vice President, Rostow, Clifford, Katzenbach, Wheeler, Helms, Vance, Bundy, Tom Johnson, Mansfield, Dirksen, Fulbright, Hickenlooper, Russell, McCormack, Albert, Ford, Laird, Senators Robert Byrd and Milton Young and Congressmen Hale Boggs, Thomas Morgan, George Mahon, Leslie Arends, Frances Bolton, and William Bates. (Ibid., President’s Daily Diary)


255. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Bundy) to Secretary of State Rusk

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, S/S Files: Lot 74 D 164, Secretary’s Luncheon Meetings with the President—1968 (2). Secret; Nodis; Harvan.


256. Memorandum From the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Secretary of Defense Clifford

Source: Department of Defense, Official Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 911/305 (24 May 68) IR 4055–4057. Top Secret; Sensitive.


257. Memorandum for Record

Source: U.S. Army Center of Military History, Dep CORDS/MACV Papers, 84c-Pacification Concepts: 1967–1968. Secret. Prepared by Komer on June 2.