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- but this may not
be s o. We should look again at our programs and examine all ideas
without thinking whether or not they can be done without increasing
our expenditures .
{8) The Defense Department i s studying several new military
recommendations made
- their new military plans.
It is unlikely that present political actions will meet th e situation.
should plan for a bigger political effort to reverse the current trend .
political actions should be proposed for consideration.
We
New
An overall
- there are str onger.
Willia1n Bundy: As to South Vietnam, Prime Minister Khanh has suspended the
constitution and t he Buddhists have made their demands on the government. The
Military Council will meet tonight to elect a new President. A new Na tional Asse m
- the sending of U . S.
military forces to Vietnam would require a new Congressional
Re solution. He felt that our sending troops to Europe i n the early 1 50s
was not a relevant analogy.
The President asked the group what Ambassador Taylor wou l d
be taking
- Thieu is a stabilizing force. He prefers to sit in the back
ground, consequently, he will not take the post of Prime Minister. The present
Saigon Government framework is solid but the members of the new government
are not yet well - known to us
- pressur es .
McGeorge Bundy summarized briefly the latest U.S . intelligence
estimate of Hanoi ' s reaction to a new U. S . air strike . (A copy is attache d. ) ( Tab D)
The President sugg ested w e discuss our position w ith the Soviet Ambas
sador
- : Reviewed in summary form the Vietnam negotiations since
October 9 when the new phase opened in Paris.
a. On October 14 he informed the three Presidential can didates tha t
the DRV was prepared to sit down with representatives of the South
Vietnamese
- calm. The President 1 s message to De Gaulle and the latter's
reply probably had a favorable effect on the market, over and above its
political impact.
2.
First assessment of the measures taken by the French government:
The new exchange controls are s
-
In response to a reques t from t he President, Mr. lvlcCone reported
that there was nothing new out of Vi etnam this morning worthy of
mention . Secretary Rusk said that we had preliminary information
about what might become an important new development , l. e
- of evidence
from the North Vietnamese.
General McCon n ell:
Our bombing is ineffective because of the restrictions
placed upon the Air Force . We should lift these restrictions and we would then
g et results .
l'OP SECRET/SENSII lvE
SERVICE SET
..
New
- , 000 men. The Chiefs are opposed t o the deployment of U.S. forces in t he
highlan ds of South V ietnam and want t he new forces to be used as a mobile
rese rv e near the coast.
Gene r al Wheele r: The ARVN fo rc es d i d not do as well a s we expected
- elections in which the Communist Party did better than the
Socialists . The result will be difficult negotiations before a new Government can
be formed .
Current East German act ivity, such as travel restrictions now being ilnposed,
indicate that the East
-
to avoi d undermi ning the confidence which exists between the President and
Ambassador Taylor. No great new decisions are expected to result.
Under Secretary Ball Reviewed the problem of military assistance to Jordan.
The Arab States are jointly tryi ng
- , the new Thai troops are doing very well, the Koreans are e.>..1:ra
ordinary, and the Australian units' morale is very high.
Two problems which need attention:
1. The Communists are trying to win over the youth of South Vietnam.
In Saigon, the youth
- the present period.
The President reviewed thr ee years of involvem e nt in the Vietnam problem,
expressing doubt chat an unusually large amount of tim e w;i.s spent consider ing
new proposals or changes in policy. Our strategy has been the same for three
- .
He declined to tell our Charge in Vientiane whether the Hanoi leaders told
him anything new.
The President:
We must get the news fastest about the Ronning mission .
Secretary Rusk:
Prior to executing any new orders on bon1bing, we must give
24
- to a question as to what the Cong r essional leaders should be
told when they joined the group for the formal NSC Meeting at 10: 30, the
President said he would ask Secretary McNamara to report on the South
Vietnamese raid and to give any new information about
- of a coalition government before negotiations could be under
taken.
e . Prime Minister Wilson spoke of a new British initia tiv e as IC C co
chairman. He asked that the peace offensive be prolon ged long enough
for the Soviets to react on the basis
-
terms .
2 . The milita r y case for a ttack on POL:
Sec r eta r y McNamara; and then poll the Chiefs one by one .
3. Anticipatory messages to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
FYI. I personally do not believe it is necessar y to info r C'l
- is to keep our contacts
open with the other side in the event that they have a new position
to g i ve us .
d . The U. S . actions we are taking should be presented publicly
in a low key but in such a way as to convey accurately that we are
d etermined
- be engaged in
fighting under the new progra m . He also asked whether U . S. planes
were being adequately maintained, adding that many people had ex
pressed their concern to him on this p oint.
Secretary McNarnal'a r eplied that U . S . soldiers
- the enemy militarily; we must make
demons trable progress in pacification; at the same time, we must add a new
ingredient forced on us by the facts. Specifically, we must improve our position
by gett ing ourselves into a military posture that we credibly
- zed
but have no interes t in the control of conventional a r ms .
Our immediat e p r obl em is to gi ve King Hassan a sense of stability.
Therefore , we have r ecommended a $14 million a rms sale and a new
food ag reement.
In this p r ocess , however
