Office of the Historian

314. Telegram From the President’s Military Representative (Taylor) to the President, at Palm Beach1

Washington, December 7, 1961, 4:50 p.m.

CAP 5416-61. Eyes only for the President. Based upon a study of the Status Reports of December 5th,2 I would say that implementation actions taken under the approved Viet-Nam program are moving forward well. The following points seem worth calling to your attention.

a.
The Core, and two freighters, carrying the two helicopter companies, a total of 44 helicopters, have been directed to proceed to Saigon.3 Core has an expected date of arrival of December 8th or 9th, and the two freighters will follow about 4 days later. The off-loading of this equipment will receive wide public attention and will make clear the fact that we are embarking upon a major program of reinforcement in South Vietnam.
b.
Except for actions to provide an emergency delivery of about 100,000 tons of rice, there is insufficient evidence of progress in the economic field. The approved recommendations included a review of economic programs in Viet-Nam to assure that top priority was being given to those actions relating most directly to the counter-insurgency campaign. I have requested additional information from State.
c.
The U.S. military personnel present or authorized for South Viet-Nam now amount to 3,679, broken down as follows:
(1)
MAAG-1905
(2)
Military units to be stationed in South Vietnam—1774.
d.
A number of decisions remain to be taken which are now being worked on by the responsible departments and agencies. They include the following:
(1)
Will ChiNat Special Force personnel be introduced into South Viet-Nam for the purpose of assisting in training of the Civil Defense Force? Diem desires to obtain from 3,000 to 5,000 trainers for this purpose.
(2)
What changes should be instituted in the U.S. military command in Saigon? Assuming a new military commander is to be introduced, who should he be, and what should his relations be to the Ambassador and to the senior representative of CIA?
(3)
Is there a need for better organization of the business at the Washington end? At the present time State, Defense and CIA are forwarding three separate reports to the White House.4 There is no agency short of the President with the responsibility and authority to scrutinize the interdepartmental actions taken and to direct corrective action when such is necessary.
  1. Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T-29-71. Top Secret; Priority. The President was staying at his father’s residence after addressing the delegates to the National Convention of the AFL-CIO in Miami earlier in the day.↩
  2. Not printed. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Viet-Nam Country Series)↩
  3. An unsigned handwritten note addressed to Bromley Smith, dated December s, indicates that “State gave Defense go-ahead on Core to proceed to Saigon based on Cottrell’s talk with the President yesterday.” (Ibid.)↩
  4. Not further identified.↩