243. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson 1
Mr. President:
The NSC meeting is on Indonesia; but, because the heart of our Indonesian aid program for the remainder of this year is 100,000 tons of rice, I am submitting to you the attached action documents on the PL 480 rice programs for Viet Nam and Indonesia (Tab A).2 Because there are domestic implications, we are inviting Orville Freeman to the meeting.
The NSC meeting need not—and in my view should not—be the occasion for your deciding on the rice question; but it is a good occasion for debate and cross-examination.
I suggest the following procedure for the meeting itself.
[Page 525]- I.
- Introduction. You should state that the progress made by Indonesia in the last year is heartening. Within the possibilities of our resources, you want us to do our share in an Indonesian aid program which brings the Suharto government forward to stability and success.
- II.
- You might then ask Under Secretary Katzenbach to review briefly what has been accomplished since our last NSC meeting a year ago (see Tab B for State paper on top of which is a summary we have prepared).3
- III.
- Under Secretary Katzenbach will ask Bill Bundy to amplify and define major action problems now before us.
- IV.
- You may then wish to go round the table and get comments from:
- —Gaud on the development picture and prospects in Indonesia;
- —Freeman on the domestic rice prospects and PL 480 set aside.
- V.
-
You may then wish to put these questions:
- —What are the 1968 prospects for assistance from all sources for Indonesia?
- —How do we plan now to meet our share of the common effort to generate and maintain momentum in Indonesia?
Bill Bundy and Bill Gaud might be asked to speak to these questions.
- VI.
- (FYI: The World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank, as well as a number of private enterprises, will
be examining Indonesian development possibilities in the months
ahead.) You may wish to conclude by asking that a development
program for 1968 and beyond be prepared and submitted to you by,
say, October 31, including:
- —major Indonesian efforts;
- —contributions by other governments and international institutions;
- —contributions by foreign private enterprise;
- —the U.S. contribution.
- Source: Johnson Library, Meeting Notes Files, Briefing Papers for NSC Meeting, 8/9/67. Confidential.↩
- At Tab A is an August 8 memorandum from Rostow to the President (ibid.) and Document 242.↩
- At Tab B is Document 241 and a White House summary of it. (Johnson Library, Meeting Note File, #4, 1/67–11/67)↩