53. Memorandum for the Record1
SUBJECT
- Daily White House Staff Meeting, 20 May 1964
- 1.
- Mr. Bundy presided throughout the meeting.
- 2.
-
Southeast Asia. Bundy opened the meeting by saying that the next two or three days would be spent on Southeast Asia, and that other members of the staff who could run a continent without coming to him were encouraged to do so.
Nothing more was said on Southeast Asia during the meeting, but afterward Bundy asked Clif Alexander (the Southeast Asia expert in Forrestal’s absence) and myself to stop by his office.
[Here follows discussion unrelated to Laos.]
- 4.
- Discussion in Bundy’s Office. In his office Bundy showed Alexander and myself the latest cables from Laos. Then, by way of direct conversation and through our overhearing his telephone conversations with McNaughton, Sullivan, and his brother, he let it be known that he was [Page 94] about to ask Presidential approval for intensified reconnaissance and for the use of some US civilian pilots in Laos. He also asked State and Defense to look into the matter of sending troops to Thailand. On this last point he asked me what the Chiefs thought of it, and I replied that, although I didn’t know in this particular context, in general they were somewhat reluctant to do this and nothing else. Bundy then commented that it probably was that the Chiefs thought that we had gotten all the mileage out of troop movements that we could. I said I thought it would be something along those lines. The discussion on that point ended there.
Bundy asked Alexander to pull together the diplomatic temperature and the reactions to Rusk’s conversations with various people. In particular, Bundy said Rusk may be taking a stronger line diplomatically than the government has yet reached decisions on. Bundy then asked me to help keep him posted on military planning.
- Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Chairman’s Staff Group, Box 25. Secret; Eyes Only. Prepared by W.Y. Smith.↩