Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume IV, Vietnam, August–December 1963

36. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the Secretary of State and the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Harriman)¹

Washington, August 31, 1963—10:15 a.m.

TELEPHONE CALL FROM AMB. HARRIMAN

Amb. Harriman said he would come back to Washington if need be. He did not think events entirely surprising (Vietnam). He thought we should go back to the program we recommended a week ago,² and have it out. He thought we should tell Diem what we were going to do and stick to it. We had gone through the same thing with Phoumi.³ Harriman asked if the Sec had seen Kattenburg. The Sec said he had but that Kattenburg’s report⁴ was already out of date in some important respects.

The Sec. said either he or Mr. Hilsman would be in touch with Amb. Harriman later in the day.

1. Source: Department of State, Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192, Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Mildred Asbjornson.
2. Apparent reference to telegram 243 to Saigon, vol. III, p. 628.
3. Reference is to Harriman’s efforts to convince Phoumi Nosovan to cooperate with U.S. support of a neutralized Laos.
4. Rusk apparently is referring to Kattenburg’s point of view, set forth in the memorandum of conversation infra.