Office of the Historian

475. Memorandum of Conversation Between President Johnson and President Ayub1

Karachi Airport, December 23, 1967.

President Johnson summarized to me the operational result of his talk with President Ayub as follows:

1.
We shall look urgently into the possibility of an additional PL 480 allocation of vegetable oil to Pakistan.
2.

We shall look urgently at possibility of additional 500,000 tons of wheat for Pakistan, of which 400,000 would be PL 480 and 100,000 commercial purchase. The purpose would be to build up Pakistani stocks in this generally favorable environment.

President Ayub said that with some exertion they could store this additional shipment.

3.
President Johnson agreed to look into the possibility of replacing the 500 obsolescent Sherman tanks with Pattons. In addition to agreeing to sales from third countries (e.g., Italy and Turkey), he wanted us to examine whether we could not sell these directly to Pakistan if the Shermans were taken out of action.

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Pakistan, Vol. VIII, Memos, 8/67–4/68. Secret. Drafted by Rostow. A note on the memorandum reads: “(Partial).” Although the memorandum is dated December 22, the President’s Daily Diary establishes that President Johnson met with President Ayub during a 1-hour refueling stop at the Karachi airport on December 23. (Ibid.) President Johnson was returning to Washington from a trip to East Asia that included stops in Australia and Thailand. He did not stop in India, but sent a message to Prime Minister Gandhi from Air Force One on December 23 expressing regret that the press of time precluded a stop to meet with her. (Telegram 89247 to New Delhi; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 7 US/Johnson)↩