Office of the Historian

75. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Johnson1

Washington, January 10, 1965.

You may have heard of the Red Chinese announcement that a Chinese Nationalist U-2 was shot down over the Chinese Mainland early today. Our intercepts and other data confirm this report, and the Chiang government is now announcing that one of its aircraft is missing and presumed lost.

This is the fourth shoot-down over a period of 2–1/2 years (September ’62, October ’63, July ’64, and January ’65). [1–1/2 lines of source text not declassified]

We believe the Chinese are using surface-to-air missiles, but we have less information than we would like on how many there are and where.

[1 paragraph (5 lines of source text) not declassified]

McG. B.
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President, McGeorge Bundy, Vol. 8. Top Secret. A handwritten “L” on the source text in Johnson’s handwriting indicates that he saw the memorandum.↩