112. Memorandum for the Record1
Washington,
November 28,
1963.
SUBJECT
- Discussion with President Johnson, 28 November 1963, 10:00 a.m.
[Here follows paragraph 1 concerning Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge and developments in Vietnam.]
- 2.
- The President then stated that he had the greatest confidence in me personally. He recalled the background for our relationship through the years and also the fact that on several important issues which have come up since my assuming the position of DCI that he had forced me to express myself on policy and noted that he approved of the positions I took on various matters. He said that he felt my work in intelligence was of greatest importance, but he did not wish me to confine myself to this role. He said that he had observed that I had rather carefully avoided expressing myself on policy or suggesting courses of action and he suggested that it might be for interdepartmental reasons that I would wish to continue to do this in meetings (which he felt was a mistake), but nevertheless he invited and would welcome my coming to him from time to time with suggestions of courses of action on policy matters which, in my opinion, were wise even though they were not consistent with advice he was receiving from responsible people. He said he was not satisfied with the advice he was getting from many quarters and he noted that in issues such as nuclear testing, the disarmament test ban, discussions on Cuba and South Vietnam that he, McCloy and I had always been very close together, with Dillon for the most part conforming to our views, but more often than not these views differed in degree from those of a great many others who are in the Administration. In this context he did not mention Mr. Bundy, however, on other occasions he had expressed confidence in Bundy.
- 3.
- I received the definite impression from this discussion that the President would move rather rapidly on the role of advisers and some of his Cabinet members as he is not at all happy with a great many of them. I think the same might be expected of some of his ambassadors.
- Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DCI (McCone) Files, Job 80–B01285A, Meetings with the President, 11/23/63–12/31/63. Top Secret; Eyes Only; No Distribution. Drafted by McCone on November 29.↩