Office of the Historian

335. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1

Washington, August 12, 1966.

We have been dealing here for the past two weeks with a Filipino technical aid mission as part of advance preparations for the Marcos visit. It came with inflated expectations of new U.S. bilateral aid for the new Philippine development plan and implied that a worthwhile Marcos State Visit hinged on fulfillment of their expectations.

I wanted you to know that these talks concluded satisfactorily, paving the way for a successful State Visit. Our people managed to:2

1.
Deflect advance commitment of sizable new bilateral economic aid pending further close study, while agreeing to be forthcoming on assistance in important areas of defense support.
2.
Gain Phil recognition that self-help is necessary if their economy is to realize its considerable potential.
3.
Persuade the Phils that the external financing they require can better be met through multilateral sources.
4.
Agree with the urgency of coping with resurgent Huk violence in Central Luzon through economic development of infected areas.

I attach a summary of the Informal Memorandum of agreement reached by both sides. The Memorandum and a more detailed expression of our positions on the matters covered therein are available in my office.3 I will send them along if they interest you.

Walt
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Philippines, Marcos Visit Papers, Memos 9/14–16/66. Confidential.↩
  2. Rostow’s information is based on a memorandum from Read to him, August 10. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, POL 7 PHIL)↩
  3. The summary, the memorandum, and an annex to the summary giving more details were attached to Read’s August 10 memorandum.↩