Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume VII, Vietnam, September 1968–January 1969

116. Information Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson¹

Washington, October 24, 1968, 1:20 p.m.

Mr. President:

Herewith the haggle in Paris this morning, plus the reference telegram with our text marked on pages 4-5 in red (at paperclip).² Here are the debating points.

1. They want to insert the words “without condition” in paragraph A but are prepared to accept also “on the basis of our discussions.”

Comment: We could, perhaps, live with this because we have put our conditions in the form of facts of life which would permit serious negotiations to proceed.

2. They propose, instead of the underlined language at the top of page 5 in the attached: “a meeting including representatives of the DRV, NLF, U.S. and RVN will be held in Paris on November 2, 1968.”

Comment: The introduction of “representatives of” is an improvement over their proposal; but we will have to see what Ellsworth thinks.

3. Their text “In order to find a peaceful settlement to the Viet-Nam problem” seems all right to me as a substitute for “meetings on the substance of a peaceful settlement in Viet-Nam.”

4. They agree to the principle that the date and time of the first Paris meeting be made public at the time of the announcement, but they Don’t want it in the minute. They have not accepted our two or three days but, at this time, are still holding out for a week.

I assume Sec. Rusk will be forwarding suggestions to you for the next round in the haggle.

Walt

Attachment

Washington, October 24, 1968.

Situation Report by the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Read)

Vance called on the secure phone at noon

1. Harriman and Vance met at our request with Thuy and Lau for four plus hours at 11:30 a.m. (Paris time) today.

2. In summary Vance said it had been tough bargaining all the way but the DRV had moved towards our position on several points, and in particular had for the first time given us directly a firm date of November 2 for a first post cessation meeting including the GVN—even though they still attached some qualifications undesirable from our viewpoint.

3. Harriman and Vance followed exactly the instructions contained in yesterday’s instructions (State 260480).³ In particular Harriman and Vance stated twice the precise nature of our essential understandings on the DMZ and the cities and the DRV did not enter objections and “did not unravel”.

4. Thuy tabled a draft joint communiqué and draft joint minute⁴ which contained a number of objectionable elements from our point of view and Harriman and Vance rejected these documents and stated our reasons for so doing.

5. Harriman and Vance then said that if the U.S. and DRV could reach agreement on the date of a meeting on November 2, the earlier date of cessation, the composition of the first post cessation meeting, and the wording on all three points we would agree to the principle of a joint secret minute.

6. After leaving the room to confer together privately two or three times, Harriman and Vance tabled, section by section, the three part minute contained in paragraph 5 of the instructions.

7. In paragraph A they accepted our language with two exceptions: (1) Because of our repeated insistence on the understandings regarding DMZ and cities, Thuy said they insisted on insertion of the words “without condition” after the words “use of force” in our text; and (2) they did not agree on our October 31 or October 30 suggestions for the date of cessation—see below. Harriman and Vance said they accepted our phrase “on the basis of our discussions” only after much argument.

8. Thuy and Lau rejected the language we tabled in paragraph B and tabled their own draft as follows: “B. In order to find a peaceful settlement to the Viet-Nam problem, a meeting including the DRV, NLF, U.S. and RVN will be held in Paris on (November 2, 1968—see below)”. Thuy said if we preferred they would be agreeable to alter this language to read “A meeting including representatives of ———”.

9. Thuy and Lau agreed to the principle stated in paragraph C of our minute, i.e. that the date and time of the first Paris meeting be made public at the time of the announcement of the bombing cessation—but they argued that this point should not be included in a joint minute. They place importance on the public announcement at the time of cessation.

10. At the conclusion of the meeting Thuy said that if we agreed on paragraphs A and B of the secret minute in the form they preferred as indicated above, he would accept November 2 as the date of the first meeting following cessation and we could then discuss between us the exact time for the actual cessation of bombing. It is clear to Harriman and Vance that they will bargain hard for a date earlier than October 30 for cessation.

11. At one point Lau suggested cessation on the 26th and first meeting on the 2nd.

12. Harriman and Vance told the DRV representative it would take “one or two days to implement orders to stop bombing” and they did not take issue with that fact. At one stage they asked whether we could announce the coming cessation at the time the stop bombing orders were issued, but Harriman and Vance said this would not be acceptable.

13. Thuy and Lau made it entirely clear that in their view the joint minute would be kept secret between the US and the DRV (and Harriman and Vance believe their acceptance of the words “on the basis of our discussions” in paragraph A makes this pledge of secrecy credible).

14. Finally, Harriman and Vance told the DRV representatives they were not in a position to agree even provisionally on any of the points at issue but that they would report promptly and fully to Washington.

Benjamin H. Read

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Vietnam, Memos to the President/Bombing Halt Decision, Vol. II [2 of 2]. Secret; Nodis; HARVAN Double Plus. The notation “ps” on the memorandum indicates that the President saw it and the attached report.
2. Full summaries of this meeting between the delegations were transmitted in telegrams 22908/Delto 874 and 22914/Delto 877 from Paris, October 24. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, A/IM Files: Lot 93 D 82, HARVAN-(Incoming)-October 1968)
3. Document 113.
4. The draft communiqué read: “On October —, 1968, the representatives of the Government of the USA informed the representatives of the Government of the DRV that the President would order the cessation without any conditions of all air, naval and artillery bombardment and all other acts involving the use of force on the whole territory of the DRV, with effect from —— hours GMT, October —, 1968. The representative of the Government of the DRV took note of this communication. After the realization of the above-mentioned cessation, without condition, of the bombing, a conference including the DRV, the NLF, the USA and the Republic of South Vietnam will be held in Paris on ——— with a view of finding a peaceful solution to the Vietnam problem.” The draft minute consisted of two paragraphs: A, which read “On the basis of our discussions, the United States will stop without conditions all air, naval and artillery bombardment and all other actions involving the use of force on the entire territory of the DRV on —— date at —— hours GMT,” and B, which read “In order to find a peaceful settlement to the Vietnam problem, a meeting including the DRVN, the NLF, the USA and the RVN wncoming)-October 1968)n ———.” (Telegram 22908/Delto 874 from Paris, October 24; (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, A/IM Files: Lot 93 D 82, HARVAN-(Incoming)-October 1968)