14. Editorial Note
On March 10, 1964, William P. Bundy was designated Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs. The Senate confirmed him on March 16. Bundy replaced Roger Hilsman who resigned as of March 15. Hilsman sent Rusk two parting memoranda, both dated March 14, on Vietnam and Southeast Asia. In the latter memorandum he reiterated his proposal to send troops to Thailand to demonstrate U.S. concern over Laos. McGeorge Bundy sent both memoranda to President Johnson under a March 18 memorandum in which Bundy noted that dispatching troops to Thailand was “more attractive to State Department and White House staff than to the Pentagon, because its object is political and not military.” McGeorge Bundy’s and Hilsman’s memoranda are in Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, volume I, pages 175–182.