Office of the Historian

377. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson1

Washington, January 20, 1968.

SUBJECT

  • Deployment of Thai Division to Vietnam

Discussion:

We fully recognize the political desirability of the earliest possible deployment of additional Thai troops to Vietnam consistent with sound military practice, and we have been and are supporting diplomatic measures to this end.

At the same time, we are concerned at what appears to be a possible misunderstanding that may have arisen from your discussion with Prime Minister Thanom at Canberra. The Prime Minister spoke in terms of having the first Thai troops in Vietnam 90 days after their equipment arrived. We believe this represents Thai recognition of the political importance [Page 837] of this action and a desire to be helpful, but subsequent developments make it appear that training requirements may have been inadequately considered by the Thai leaders in making this commitment.

I understand that Secretary McNamara is sending you a memorandum2 advising that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have examined the military aspects of this matter and he and they have concluded that the schedule for July deployment is the minimum time necessary to produce a militarily effective Thai force. In this connection, we note that Prime Minister Thanom has emphasized to Ambassador Unger that the Thai forces must receive adequate training.

We are concerned at the possible political repercussions, both here and in Thailand, if the new Thai unit should incur heavy casualties at the hands of the VC because of inadequate training prior to deployment, exposing the Thai Government to charges that training had been reduced at U.S. urging. This would be doubly unfortunate because the Thai regiment now in Vietnam won a handsome victory over the VC in its first major engagement in December which was well publicized in the Thai and U.S. press.

We will continue to press for the earliest practicable deployment of the new Thai forces and seek ways to maximize the political and psychological impact of the Thai troop contribution.

Dean Rusk 3
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 6 THAI. Secret. Drafted by Spear and sent to Rusk under cover of a memorandum by Bundy, January 18, which recommended that the Secretary sign the memorandum.↩
  2. Document 375.↩
  3. Printed from a copy that indicates Rusk signed the original.↩