Office of the Historian

52. Telegram From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Lemnitzer) to the Commander in Chief, Pacific (Felt)1

Washington, February 7, 1962—7:57 p.m.

080057Z. Secret for Felt and Harkins from Lemnitzer.

1.
Now that we are about to get the new command in Vietnam under way after all the road blocks which have been encountered to delay its establishment, I would like to bring you up to date on the situation here.
2.
In drafting the JCS message which you received today2 I attempted to make it clear that insofar as DOD and the JCS are concerned, your terms of reference are those which were agreed to by Secretaries McNamara and Rusk and which were approved by the President when Sec Def, JCS and Harkins visited Palm Beach in early January. As you know Nolting was not too happy with them and for that reason it is desirable that they be handled most discreetly, particularly in your contacts with him. I discussed the importance of doing so with Harkins during our last visit to Honolulu and I am sure he understands the situation in this regard. The importance of holding these terms of reference closely is obvious.
3.
As you are aware the necessary arrangements for the establishment of the command and announcement thereof have been made with President Diem. He has given his complete concurrence to the entire project and is looking forward with much pleasure to working with Harkins.
4.
It now appears that our next visit to Honolulu will be on 19 Feb. While you are in the best position to judge when Harkins should leave for Saigon and whether he will be able to return for that conference, I believe that it would be most advantageous if he could leave Honolulu fairly promptly and return with McGarr for the conference on the 19th.
5.
With respect to Harkinsʼ promotion, he presently holds a recess appointment as general. The President signed the necessary papers during our Palm Beach visit on 3 Jan. Accordingly, the promotion papers to be forwarded by DA will confirm that fact. They have been closely held since Jan 3 for security reasons. Therefore Harkins should wear his fourth star as of 081600Z, the time of the public release. The papers which will send his promotion to the Senate for confirmation are now in the White House and will be forwarded to the Senate by the President at 1100 AM Washington time Thursday, 8 Feb. when the command announcement is made. Assistant Secretary of Defense Sylvester will make an appropriate announcement of the promotion at that time.
6.
For Harkins. Again my heartiest congratulations to you on this well-earned and justly deserved promotion. In undertaking your new and challenging assignment you can count on the wholehearted support of the President, Secretary McNamara, Secretary Rusk, the JCS and their respective staffs here. I know that Felt, O’Donnell, Collins and Aides and their commands and staffs will also give you all possible support and assistance.
  1. Source: National Defense University, Lemnitzer Papers, 1962, Folder 24. Secret; Priority.↩
  2. See Document 53.↩