142. Telegram From the Commander in Chief, Pacific (Felt) to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Taylor)1
Honolulu, May 6,
1964—9:45 p.m.
070745Z. Exclusive for Gen Taylor, Gen Waters, Gen Smart, Adm Sharp. War in Vietnam. A. Saigon 2108 to State.2
1. Following are comments on ref A as requested by CJCS:
- A.
- Khanh’s remarks to Amb Lodge reveal a temporary (I hope) breakdown under pressures which have been applied by both Communists and the U.S. Small countries under tremendous pressure are unable to take the same long view of tensions which we can take. Things look different to those who are pressed to perk up to a long dirty war when they have been fighting one for 20 years. Their impatience sometimes approaches that of Americans—though not expressed in the same way.
- B.
- It is not desirable to go to a full-scale war footing unless there is assurance that the GVN can carry out effectively the necessary controls. It is premature to entertain seriously thoughts of declaring war on NVN. There should not be undue haste to escalate to a different type of war footing in SVN divorced from the problems of Laos and Cambodia.
- C.
- Policy for the Protocol States will not stay compartmented before escalating in NVN directly. We should move up the ladder via a series of steps in Laos as we are commencing to do.
- D.
- However, I suggest that Khanh should redeclare a state of emergency, reaffirming if he will the declaration made by Diem in October 1961. Khanh would then have a proper umbrella for civil control actions similar to those taken in Malaya such as curfews, registration, search, and control of movement.
- E.
- Evacuation of Saigon is desperation talk and should be ignored as a passing mood.
- F.
- Khanh knows it but it needs to be repeated. Real victory comes when the people are convinced that his government can protect them and give them social improvement and justice. Confidence of a population is not gained quickly in one glorious battle or assault. It comes from a series of events governed by Vietnamese themselves. It swells and floods if earned by a Govt of RVN. It does not grow from white troop invasion of their land. Khanh needs another pep talk, encouraging [Page 296] him to carry on with implementing good plans and programs, bolstered as suggested above by issuing a govt edict that the country is in a state of emergency.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 VIET S. Top Secret; Specat; Exclusive. Repeated to CINCPACFLT, CINCUSARPAC, and PACAF. The source text is a copy the JCS sent for information to the Department of State Specat-Exclusive for Rusk.↩
- Document 136.↩