The Department of State and the Coordination and Supervision of U.S. Foreign Policy


31. Memorandum for the Record

Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DCI (McCone) Files, Memos for Record, Job 80–B01285A. Single Copy; No Distribution. Dictated by McCone and transcribed in his office. The time of the meeting is from Rusk’s Appointment Book at the Johnson Library.


32. Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration (Crockett) to the President’s Special Assistant (Busby)

Source: Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 74–28, WJC Book. No classification marking.


34. Information Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration (Crockett) to Secretary of State Rusk

Source: Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 75–45, ORG 8. No classification marking. Concurred in by Thomas of ARA. Copies were sent to Ball and Mann. The memorandum indicates it was seen by the Secretary. The Bureau of Inter-American Affairs in the State Department and the Bureau of Latin America in AID were combined in March 1964 (see Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, vol. XXXI, Document 10. Crockett’s memorandum is based on a study entitled “Critique of the Combined Organization for Latin American Affairs,” prepared by the Office of Management, Department of State, in January 1965. Fifty State and AID officers were interviewed for the study, of whom “few expressed serious doubts regarding the usefulness of combined operations.” The critique pointed out, however, that the effectiveness of combined organization in ARA could be “attributed, at least in part, to the unique combination of responsibility in Mr. Mann for the Alliance for Progress as well as for the conduct of U.S. foreign relations with Latin American countries”; and the critique submitted recommendations for “important and significant improvements that must be made” if the combined organization were to become “fully successful.” (Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, Combined Organization for Latin American Affairs)


35. Telephone Conversation Between President Johnson and Secretary of State Rusk

Source: Johnson Library, Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of a Telephone Conversation between the President and Rusk, Tape F65.10, Side B, PNO 4. No classification marking. This transcript was prepared in the Office of the Historian specifically for this volume.


36. Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration (Crockett) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Solomon)

Source: Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 75–45, Org 1, General Policy. Limited Official Use. Filed with the memorandum are five 1964 memoranda concerning relations between the Departments of State and Commerce: Assistant Secretary of Commerce Jack Behrman to Crockett, March 6, 1964; Crockett to Under Secretary of Commerce Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., June 6, 1964; Roosevelt to Crockett, June 16, 1964; Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges to Rusk, June 16, 1964; and Crockett to Rusk, October 22, 1964.


37. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the Under Secretary of State (Ball) and the President’s Press Secretary (Moyers)

Source: Johnson Library, Ball Papers, People & Positions III. No classification marking. Drafted in Ball’s office.


38. Letter From President Johnson to the Speaker of the House of Representatives (McCormack)

Source: Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 75–45, PER 1. No classification marking. Also printed in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, Book I, pp. 502–504. An identical letter was sent on May 6 to the President of the Senate, Vice President Humphrey. The background and fate of the measures discussed in the President’s letter are described in John Ensor Harr, The Professional Diplomat (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), pp. 84–93; and in “The Department of State During the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson,” vol. II, chap. 2D, “Efforts to Establish a Unified Foreign Affairs Personnel System,” prepared in 1968 by Clifford Hailey of the Department of State’s Office of Foreign Affairs Personnel Planning. (Johnson Library, Administrative Histories)


39. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to the Ambassador to the United Arab Republic (Battle)

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, ORG 1. Unclassified. Attached is a memorandum from the Acting Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration to Rusk, May 25, indicating that the same letter was sent to all 13 Chiefs of Mission participating in the Executive Review of Overseas Programs. For background on EROP, see Document 33. According to Mosher and Harr, Programming Systems and Foreign Affairs Leadership, p. 84, Rusk himself proposed sending this letter during a planning meeting on EROP with Crockett and Barrett in April.


42. Paper Prepared in the Department of State

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, S/S-SIG Files: Lot 70 D 263, SIG/Administrative. Limited Official Use. Internal evidence indicates that the paper was prepared in July or August 1965 although it contains no drafting information. Handwritten notations on the paper indicate that the original was sent to Mann, with copies to Ball, Deputy Executive Secretary John Walsh, S/S Staff Director Herbert Gordon, and S/S Assistant Staff Director Jeanne Davis.


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

Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President-McGeorge Bundy, Vol. 10. No classification marking. From 1:40 to 4:05 p.m. on August 19, the President met for lunch in the Madison Room at the Department of State with Rusk, Ball, Mann, Harriman, Goldberg, seven Assistant Secretaries of State, Chief of Protocol Lloyd Hand, and Valenti. (Ibid., Daily Diary) The Daily Diary indicates that Valenti kept notes of the meeting, which were turned over to Dorothy Territo of the White House staff, but the notes have not been found. Four months earlier, in a memorandum to the President of April 21, Valenti had proposed that the President go the Department of State to talk with “the assistant secretaries, their deputies, regional and area chiefs and some desk officers,” in order “to counter-attack the swiftly-building myth that the President is bored with foreign affairs and doesn’t enjoy foreign visitors.” Valenti continued, “Let us show, visibly, the President’s interest in the ideas, imagination and energy of State-as well as his support for State employees.” The President, however, responded by checking “No” at the bottom of the memorandum. (Ibid., White House Central Files, Subject Files, EX FG 105)


46. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs (Kitchen) to the Ambassador at Large (Thompson)

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, S/S-NSC Files: Lot 72 D 316, NSAM 277. Secret. A copy was sent to Yager (S/P).


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

Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President-McGeorge Bundy, Vol. 16. Confidential. The memorandum indicates the President saw it.


48. Draft Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson) to Secretary of State Rusk

Source: Johnson Library, Bromley Smith Papers, Organization of SIG. No classification marking. No indication has been found that the memorandum was signed and forwarded to Rusk, but at some point it was made available to Bromley Smith, NSC Executive Secretary. In Smith’s files it is attached to a copy of a December 10 memorandum from Schwartz to Taylor, which refers to an attached draft of a reorganization plan. However, attached to the original of Schwartz’s memorandum in the Taylor Papers at National Defense University is a different plan for reorganizing the Special Group that clearly is the plan to which Schwartz’s covering memorandum refers. (Box 63, Folder II, NSAM 341 & Related Items)

U. Alexis Johnson recounted his role in the development of the SIG-IRG system in The Right Hand of Power: The Memoirs of an American Diplomat (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984), pp. 398–401.


49. Draft Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk and Bureau of the Budget Director Schultze to President Johnson

Source: Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 75–45, Taylor Task Force Report. Unclassified. Drafted by Barrett. The first page of the memorandum indicates it was not sent. The serious differences that developed between State and BOB over the draft memorandum’s recommendations are described in Mosher and Harr, Programming Systems and Foreign Affairs Leadership, pp. 108–114. The objections expressed by AID, Agriculture, and DOD are summarized in a memorandum from Barrett to Crockett, January 11, 1966. (Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 75–45, ORG 1)


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

Source: Johnson Library, Bromley Smith Papers, Organization of SIG. No classification marking. The memorandum is marked with an indication that, together with the attachments, it was included in the President’s Night Reading and that the President saw it.


51. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Komer) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)

Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Vietnam, Gen Taylor. Secret.


52. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson

Source: Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 75–45, Taylor Task Force. No classification marking. Drafted by Ball. Sent through Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Special Assistant to the President.


54. Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration (Crockett) to All Assistant Secretaries and Executive Directors

Source: Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 74–28, WJC Book. No classification marking. Drafted by Eddie Williams on February 14.


55. Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson) to Secretary of State Rusk

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, S/S-SIG Files: Lot 70 D 263, SIG/Administrative. Confidential. A copy was sent to Ball.


56. National Security Action Memorandum No. 341

Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, NSAMs File, NSAM 341. Confidential. Taylor forwarded the NSAM to the President under cover of a March 2 memorandum in which he outlined the NSAM’s “principal effects” and made several recommendations, including “the preparation of a new Presidential letter to Ambassadors to replace the President Kennedy letter of May 29, 1961.” (Ibid., Bromley Smith Papers, Organization of SIG) In a March 2 memorandum to Rusk, Bromley Smith indicated that the President wanted Rusk to prepare such a letter. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, S/S-SIG Files: Lot 70 D 263, SIG/Administrative) A draft was prepared (see Document 130) but never sent.


57. Memorandum From the President’s Acting Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Komer) to President Johnson

Source: Johnson Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File, CO 312. Secret. A copy was sent to Moyers. According to a note attached to the memorandum the President told his secretary, Yolanda Boozer, at 9:45 p.m. on March 2: “Tell Bill Moyers to see me about this.”


59. Notes of a Meeting

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, S/S-SIG Files: Lot 70 D 263, SIG/Administrative. No classification marking. Drafted by Read. An attendance list is ibid., Instructions and Authority for SIG Documents. In addition to the Assistant Secretaries, attendees included Mann, U. Alexis Johnson, Crockett, Harriman, Hughes, Rostow, and several other State Department officials. The time of the meeting is from Rusk’s Appointment Book. (Johnson Library) The meeting was held in the Secretary’s conference room.


60. Memorandum From the President’s Acting Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Komer) to the President’s Press Secretary (Moyers) and the President’s Assistant Press Secretary (Fleming)

Source: Johnson Library, White House Central Files, Subject Files, Ex FG 105. Official Use Only. Copies were sent to the Ranch and to Joe Laitin.