Office of the Historian

429. Paper Prepared by the Ambassador to Vietnam (Taylor)1

Washington, November 27, 1964.

Questions Requiring Answers

1.
What is the situation which is assumed to exist at the time of the initiation of either Course B or Course C? What is going on?
2.
What is the minimum acceptable government which must be in being prior to initiating Course C?
3.
Under Course B or C, what role does the armed forces of South Viet-Nam play?
4.
Similarly, what role does the GVN play in negotiations and public statements?
5.
What is the span of time contemplated for Courses B and C?
6.
When and how do we communicate with Hanoi? What is said and by whom?
7.
What do we communicate to the Government of Viet-Nam with regard to our intention? When? By whom?
8.
In this discussion with the GVN, what do we ask from them and what do we offer to add to what we are doing for them?
9.
What is to be said to the Congress and the U.S. public? When and by whom?
10.
What, when and how do we communicate our intentions to friendly nations?
11.
What do we do if the Huong government collapses some place along the B or C track?
12.
What are the circumstances justifying retaliation bombing and how do we assure a quick and effective response? Who does it; U.S., GVN or both?
13.
In any SVN scenario, how do we fit in an incident affecting only U.S. interests such as the Bay of Tonkin?2
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Vietnam Country File, Vol. XXIII, Memos. Secret. Attached to a note from the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State, dated November 27, which stated that the questions were circulated for consideration by the members of the Executive Committee.↩

  2. On November 2, following meetings of Executive Committee and with the President, Taylor added the six following questions to the list:

    “14.
    What kind of official reply is desired from GVN in response to Ambassador’s presentation?
    “15.
    What kind of public statement from GVN? “16. What say to S[uu?]?
    “17.
    When start military action under Phase 1? How? “18. When present the infiltration data?
    “19.
    What tell third countries about our plans? When in relation to start of Phase 1?” (National Defense University, Taylor Papers. T–272–69)

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