651. Memorandum from McGeorge Bundy to the President, April 121
I have been very slow in sending this memorandum on long-range planning aspects, prepared in Walt Rostow’s office and forwarded at the end of February by Dean Rusk. The reason is that I just could not find a time when I thought you were likely to give it the attention they would like. But perhaps now you could have a quick look and agree to have a meeting with Walt and the Secretary and a very few others next week on these planning problems. My own guess is that what is needed for Walt is a real sense of your own interest and some sense on priorities, and beyond that we could probably organize the consideration of some of these long-range problems in the Standing Committee which you, Bobby and I have been discussing.
That Committee is now, incidentally, agreed around town and will begin operation next week. Its title will be “Standing Committee of the NSC” and we intend to have absolutely no publicity about it in order to avoid useless chatter about seizing the initiative from the State [Typeset Page 1673] Department or restoring the OCB, or otherwise reorganizing ourselves in the spring of our discontent.
- Time to begin long-range planning aspects for Cuba. No classification marking. 1 p. Kennedy Library, NSF, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Standing Group, 4/63–5/63.↩