Office of the Historian

137. Memorandum of Conference With President Kennedy0

Washington, July 24, 1963, 10 a.m.

OTHERS PRESENT

  • General Taylor
  • General Wheeler
  • Admiral Anderson
  • General LeMay
  • General Shoup
  • Captain Shepard
  • General McHugh

SIOP

The Chairman presented to the President a new book1 which contains a complete summary of the SIOP,2 highlighting decisions required for its implementation. The President asked a number of questions and all the Chiefs participated in the discussion. The Chairman emphasized the extreme sensitivity of this document, stating there were only eight copies in existence.

Army Special Forces

General Wheeler presented to the President the reply to a memorandum which the President had written to the Secretary of Defense on the employment of Army Special Forces.3 The President stated he thought that the size of the groups being sent was too small to take maximum advantage of the favorable impression they create. General Wheeler stated that the limiting factor on the number of forces employed was often the opposition of the U.S. Ambassador concerned. The President stated that he should communicate with the Ambassadors. (A copy of the President’s memorandum on this subject to the Secretary of State is attached.)5

General LeMay stated that he and the Chiefs of Staffs of Latin American Air Forces favor bringing their personnel to the U.S. for training. He [Page 492] also stated that there is a general consensus on the need for increased inter-American planning. He stated that the Inter-American Defense Board is unsatisfactory for this purpose. To make it effective, it should be placed under the OAS, and its personnel changed.

[Here follows discussion of unrelated subjects.]

Tazewell Shepard
  1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Clifton Series, Conferences with the President, Volume II, 2/28/63-9/9/63. Top Secret.↩
  2. Not identified.↩
  3. Apparent reference to SIOP-63 (see Document 92). Differences between SIOP-63 and SIOP- 64, formally approved by the JCS in October 1963 with an effective date of January 1, 1964, are indicated in a memorandum from the JCS to McNamara dated November 14, 1962, JCS 2057/360, and Appendix A to Enclosure F to JCS 2956/400, October 16, 1963; both in National Archives and Records Administration, RG 218, JCS Records, JMF 3105 (22 Jun 62) Sec. 1.↩
  4. Reference is to the July 15 memorandum; see Document 133.↩
  5. Not attached. It is an earlier version of the President’s July 26 memorandum described in Document 133.↩