Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXXI, South and Central America; Mexico

267. Memorandum for the Record¹

Washington, August 21, 1964.

SUBJECT

• Minutes of the Meeting of the 303 Committee, 20 August 1964

PRESENT

• Mr. Bundy, Ambassador Thompson, Mr. Vance, and Mr. McCone

1. A special meeting of the 303 Committee was called for 1600 on 20 August 1964 to discuss two papers concerning Chile: a CIA paper dated 20 August 1964, “Supplementary Support for the Chilean Presidential Elections of 4 September 1964,”² and an undated CIA memorandum, “Church Social and Political Projects in Chile.”³

2. The first paper cited a cable of 19 August 1964 from the “Joint Embassy Election Team” in Santiago⁴ seeking additional funds as the political race enters its last two and a half weeks. The sum requested was [less than 1 line of source text not declassified], and in view of the extreme long-range importance of the outcome of this political struggle, the Committee members felt that this late hour request was justified.

3. The second paper dealt with the political action program undertaken by [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] in support of the CDP candidate. [less than 1 line of source text not declassified], apparently on the basis of conversations with various U.S. citizens, private and official, over the past year, assumed that he had a tacit commitment for financial support. Although no formal commitment to [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] was ever authorized, the Committee felt that [less than 1 line of source text not declassified], regardless of his erroneous impression, had made measurable contributions to the Frei campaign through his “front” organizations and that some allocation of funds should be made to defray his stated deficit of $395,000.

4. Accordingly, the Committee approved the sum of [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] as requested by the “Joint Embassy Election Team” with the stipulation that no more than [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] of this sum should be allocated to [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] political action program deficit.⁵

Peter Jessup

1. Source: National Security Council, 303 Committee Files, Minutes, August 20, 1964. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by Jessup. Copies were sent to Thompson, Vance, and McCone.
2. Not printed. (Ibid., Subject Files, Chile thru 1969)
3. Dated August 20. (Department of State, INR/IL Historical Files, 303 Committee Files, c. 9, August 20, 1964)
4. Not found.
5. According to his own notes of the meeting, “Ambassador Thompson commented that [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] seems a great deal, but he did not enter any caveat to that effect.” (Department of State, INR/IL Historical Files, 303 Committee Files, C. 9, August 20, 1964)