Office of the Historian

113. Memorandum for the Record0

Hyannis Port, November 23, 1962.

SUBJECT

  • Second Meeting with the President on FY 64 DoD Budget Issues1

At this morning’s meeting with the President (attended by McNamara, Taylor, Gilpatric, Hitch and Brown2 for DoD; Bell and Staats3 for BoB; and Bundy and Wiesner for the White House), the Secretary of Defense’s draft memoranda of November 20 and 21, 1962, on the following three subjects4 were considered with the results indicated below, in each instance subject to a general reservation for all concerned pending a final review of the total budget amounts:

I. Strategic Retaliatory Forces

1.
Minuteman Program—Approval given to FY 66 force level of 950, of which 150 will be improved Minuteman.
2.
Polaris Program—
(a)
Approval given to 6 additional submarines (completing planned force of 41).
(b)
A3A missile proposal disapproved.
3.
Skybolt—Cancellation approved subject to consultation with the U.K. on alternatives.
4.
SAC Hardened Support Center—Approved in principle, with preference for a location as near as possible to present SAC Headquarters.

II. B-70

1.
RS-70—Approval given to recommendation not to proceed with full development but with addition of $50 million of FY 63 funds for sensor components.
2.
Reconnaissance Aircraft—R-X concept approved with program decisions to be made following validation of requirements.

III. Nike-Zeus

1.
Recommendation to defer deployment decision approved.
2.
Approval given to development program recommended by the Secretary of Defense.
Roswell Gilpatric
  1. Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 66 A 3542, 110.01 FY 64 (23 Nov 62). No classification marking. Drafted by Gilpatric.↩
  2. The meeting was held in the Kennedy Compound at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where the President was spending the Thanksgiving weekend. The first meeting has not been identified. (Kennedy Library, President’s Appointment Book)↩
  3. Charles J. Hitch, Assistant Secretary (Comptroller) of Defense, and Harold Brown, Director of Defense Research and Engineering.↩
  4. Elmer B. Staats, Deputy Director of the Bureau of the Budget.↩
  5. See Document 112, footnote 3 to Document 107, and Document 111.↩