of the meeting at Honolulu-Ambassador Lodge will be there, General Harkins will be there, Secretary McNamara and others, and then, as you know, later Ambassador Lodge will come here-is to attempt to assess the situation: what American policy should be, and what our aid policy should be, how we can intensify the struggle, how we can bring Americans out of there.28

Now, that is our object, to bring Americans home, permit the South Vietnamese to maintain themselves as a free and independent country, and permit democratic forces within the country to operate which they can, of course, much more freely when the assault from the inside, and which is manipulated from the north, is ended. So the purpose of the meeting in Honolulu is how to pursue these objectives.

IX-145

"WITHOUT THE UNITED STATES, SOUTH VIET-NAM WOULD COLLAPSE OVERNIGHT": Remarks Made by the President (Kennedy), Fort Worth, Tex., November 22, 1963 29

IX-146

"WE SHOULD, ALL OF US, NOT GO TO BED ANY NIGHT WITHOUT ASKING WHETHER WE HAVE DONE EVERYTHING THAT WE COULD DO THAT DAY TO WIN THE STRUGGLE [IN VIET-NAM]": Remarks Made by the President (Johnson) to Employees of the Department of State, December 5, 1963 3

30

IX-147

THE QUESTION OF VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH VIET-NAM: Report of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission to South Viet-Nam, December 7, 1963 31

[NOTE: The President of the U.N. General Assembly (Sosa Rodríguez) acting under the authority of the General Assembly (see footnote 4 to title IX-133, ante) appointed the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission which consisted of representatives of the following member states: Afghanistan (chairman), Brazil, Ceylon, Costa Rica, Dahomey, Morocco, and Nepal, Oct. 11, 1963. During its visit to Saigon Oct. 24– Nov. 3 and to Hué Oct. 30-31, the U.N. Mission interviewed spokesmen of the Government of President Diem, persons selected by the

28

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk conferred in Honolulu with the American Ambassador to South Viet-Nam, Henry Cabot Lodge, and the commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, VietNam, General Paul D. Harkins, Nov. 20, 1963.

20 Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963, pp. 888-890.

Mission, and persons coming forward of their own accord. The Chairman of the Mission also made a courtesy call on the Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council (Major General Duong Van Minh) and Generals Tran Van Don and Le Van Kim. The Mission was unable to interview Thich Tri Quang, a Buddhist monk who took refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Sept. 1, because the Government of President Diem informed the Mission that according to the laws of asylum a person in asylum was not allowed to make any contacts whatsoever while in asylum.

[Those members of the U.N. General Assembly who proposed the agenda item "The Violation of Human Rights in South Viet-Nam" (see footnote 93 to title IX-128, ante), in the light of recent events in Viet-Nam did not feel it useful to discuss this item. In these circumstances, the U.N. General Assembly decided it was not necessary to continue consideration of the item, Dec. 13, 1963 (U.N. doc. A/PV.1280, pars. 1-5).]

IX-148

UNITED STATES REVIEW OF PLANS FOR MILITARY OPERATIONS IN VIET-NAM DURING 1964 IN VIEW OF THE "RAPID EXPANSION OF [VIET CONG] ACTIVITY": Remarks Made by the Secretary of Defense (McNamara) to News Correspondents at the White House, December 21, 1963 32

The members of my party and I returned this morning from South Viet-Nam.33 We have just completed our report to the President of our observations. We observed the results of the very substantial increase in the Viet Cong activity, an increase that began shortly after the new Government was formed 34 and has extended over a period of several weeks.

During this time the Viet Cong have attacked, and attacked successfully, a substantial number of the strategic hamlets. They have burned the houses, the fortifications, and in many cases have forced the inhabitants to leave. The rate of that Viet Cong activity, however, has substantially dropped within the past week to 10 days.

This rapid expansion of activity, I think, could have been expected. It obviously was intended to take advantage of the period of organization in the new Government, a period during which there was a certain amount of confusion-confusion that you might have expected

White House press release dated Dec. 21, 1963 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Jan. 13, 1964, p. 46). Secretary of Defense McNamara visited Saigon Dec. 19-20, 1963.

Accompanying Mr. McNamara to Viet-Nam were John A. McCone, Director of Central Intelligence; William P. Bundy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Arthur Sylvester, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs; Maj. Gen. Victor Krulak, USMC, Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and William H. Sullivan, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Department of State. [Footnote in source text.]

See footnote 20 to doc. IX-141, ante.

would result from the replacement of the province chiefs and other key administrators in the Government.

We reviewed in great detail the plans of the South Vietnamese and the plans of our own military advisers for operations during 1964. We have every reason to believe they will be successful. We are determined that they shall be.

IX-149

"NEUTRALIZATION' OF SOUTH VIET-NAM IS UNACCEPTABLE... AS LONG AS THE COMMUNIST REGIME IN NORTH VIET-NAM PERSISTS IN ITS AGGRESSIVE POLICY": Message From the President of the United States (Johnson) to the Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council of the Republic of Viet-Nam (General Minh), December 31, 1963 $5

DEAR GENERAL MINH: As we enter the New Year of 1964, I want to wish you, your Revolutionary Government, and your people full success in the long and arduous war which you are waging so tenaciously and bravely against the Viet Cong forces directed and supported by the Communist regime in Hanoi. Ambassador [Henry Cabot] Lodge and Secretary [of Defense Robert S.] McNamara have told me about the serious situation which confronts you and of the plans which you are developing to enable your armed forces and your people to redress this situation.

This new year provides a fitting opportunity for me to pledge on behalf of the American Government and people a renewed partnership with your government and people in your brave struggle for freedom. The United States will continue to furnish you and your people with the fullest measure of support in this bitter fight. We shall maintain in Viet-Nam American personnel and material as needed to assist you in achieving victory.

Our aims are, I know, identical with yours: to enable your government to protect its people from the acts of terror perpetrated by Communist insurgents from the north. As the forces of your government become increasingly capable of dealing with this aggression, American military personnel in South Viet-Nam can be progressively withdrawn.36

The United States Government shares the view of your government that "neutralization" of South Viet-Nam is unacceptable. As long as the Communist regime in North Viet-Nam persists in its aggressive policy, neutralization of South Viet-Nam would only be another name for a Communist takeover. Peace will return to your country just as

35

White House press release (Austin, Tex.) dated Jan. 1, 1964 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Jan. 27, 1964, pp. 121–122).

On Dec. 3, 1963, 220 American troops debarked from Viet-Nam. They rep resented the first contingent of a group of 1,000 to be returned to the United States by Christmas. On Feb. 17, 1964, Secretary McNamara estimated the number of American military personnel in Viet-Nam at 15,500.

soon as the authorities in Hanoi cease and desist from their terrorist aggression.

Thus, your government and mine are in complete agreement on the political aspects of your war against the forces of enslavement, brutality, and material misery. Within this framework of political agreement we can confidently continue and improve our cooperation.

I am pleased to learn from Secretary McNamara about the vigorous operations which you are planning to bring security and an improved standard of living to your people.

I wish to congratulate you particularly on your work for the unity of all your people, including the Hoa Hao 37 and Cao Dai,38 against the Viet Cong. I know from my own experience in Viet-Nam how warmly the Vietnamese people respond to a direct human approach and how they have hungered for this in their leaders. So again I pledge the energetic support of my country to your government and your people.

We will do our full part to ensure that under your leadership your people may win a victory-a victory for freedom and justice and human welfare in Viet-Nam.

"A political-religious sect whose political power in provinces southwest of Saigon was broken by President Ngo Dinh Diem's regime in 1955.

A political-religious sect whose political power in Tay Ninh and neighboring provinces northwest of Saigon was broken by President Ngo Dinh Diem's regime in 1955.

Part X

DISARMAMENT EFFORTS AND THE PEACEFUL

USES OF OUTER SPACE

A. United States Arms Control Machinery

X-1

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT ACT IN ORDER TO INCREASE THE AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATION AND TO MODIFY THE PERSONNEL SECURITY PROCEDURES FOR CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES: Public Law 88-186, Approved November 26, 1963 1

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 49 (a) of the Act entitled "Arms Control and Disarmament Act", approved September 26, 19612 (75 Stat. 639), is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "In addition, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal years 1964 and 1965, the sum of $20,000,000, to remain available until expended, to carry out the purposes of this Act." 3

SEC. 2. Section 45 of the Act entitled "Arms Control and Disarmament Act", approved September 26, 1961 (75 Stat. 637), is amended by redesignating subsection 45 (b) as subsection 45 (c) and by inserting after subsection 45 (a) the following new subsection:

(b) In the case of contractors or subcontractors and their officers or employees, actual or prospective, the Director may accept, in lieu of the investigation prescribed in subsection (a) hereof, a report of investigation conducted by a Government agency, other than the Civil Service Commission or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, when it is determined by the Director that the completed investigation meets the standards established in subsection (a) hereof: Provided, That security clearance had been granted to the individual concerned by an

1 S. 777, 88th Cong.; 77 Stat. 341.

8

Text in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961, pp. 1061–1071. The appropriation for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1964, was contained in P.L. 88-245, Dec. 30, 1963, and amounted to $7,500,000 (77 Stat. 798).