141. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Kennedy0
SUBJECT
- Our Policy toward Yugoslavia
George Kennan has written an excellent airgram (Belgrade’s A–543,1 attached) on our policy toward Yugoslavia which raises critical questions about our present course and makes important and comprehensive recommendations on what we might do.
In essence, he charges that our policy toward Yugoslavia has been basically revised not by design intention but rather by a series of separate steps, unrelated to foreign policy consideration, and, in his view, the end result has been that our present stance is “contradictory, unproductive and unsatisfactory.” He feels (and in this he is generally supported by the Executive Departments most directly concerned) that U.S. interests would be served better by reverting to the policy lines first formulated during the Truman Administration than by adhering to the present course brought about by recent Congressional action.
[Page 310]It is with this general problem in mind that this afternoon’s (5:30) meeting with State, Defense and AID (Mr. David Bell) has been arranged.2 Actions being sought this afternoon are:
- a.
- A decision to have an amendment of the MFN provision of the Trade Expansion Act formally included in the President’s legislative program, and discussed (even if only briefly) either in the State of the Union, or Budget Messages, or both.
- b.
- A directive to the Departments of State and Defense to formulate for Presidential consideration, recommendations for military sales program to Yugoslavia.
- c.
- A directive to the Departments of State, Defense and AID to study Ambassador Kennan’s recommendations and prepare a program—subject to Presidential approval—for implementing them.
- Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, NSF. Secret.↩
- Document 140.↩
- According to the President’s appointment book, an off-the-record meeting was held between 5:35 and 6:15 p.m. (Kennedy Library) See Document 143.↩