146. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Harriman) to the Director of the Policy Planning Council (Rostow)1
I have given your memorandum of April 2,2 concerning Congressman Saundʼs suggestion on Viet-Nam, to Cottrell. Itʼs an old story to me, going back to Korea. There is a lot of real reluctance on the part of the military. If anything is to be done about it, top-side pressure has to be brought. I personally agree with your thought, but I donʼt know if anybody else involved in the operation would want to [Page 307] do it. An exploration was made at the request of the President some months ago, and the seed didnʼt take. There are obviously logistic and command difficulties, but I still believe that as you say we are likely to be in Viet-Nam for a long period of time. Command difficulties could probably be worked out. We also might expect some trouble with the Vietnamese—but I donʼt know how serious that is. If anything is to be done on this whole subject, it will have to be on orders from on high.
- Source: Harriman Papers, Vietnam, 1962. Secret. A typed note at the bottom indicates that Harriman dictated but did not read the memorandum.↩
- Actually April 3, Document 140.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩