Office of the Historian

67. Telegram From the Presidentʼs Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Johnson and Secretary of State Rusk1

Washington, February 5, 1966, 5:08 p.m.

CAP 66043. The following rather tart message from General De Gaulle was brought this afternoon by Lucet. It is a reply to the Presidentʼs personal message of January 31 informing him of the resumption of bombing.2 This message hardly calls for an answer.

“Dear Mr. President:

Your Ambassador in Paris has passed me your message of January 31 in which you explain to me the reasons that make you consider it indispensable to resume the aerial bombing of North Vietnam.

I am grateful for the care which you are taking once again to inform me of the situation and of the purposes of your action.

As far as France is concerned, I think I should make her opinion of this clear to you, taking account of the experience which she herself went through at an earlier time.

For years now we have believed, first, that only a political solution is possible; further, that this solution can only be obtained by a negotiation undertaken on the basis of the Geneva Agreements of 1954; and, finally, that there would be no way to open this negotiation if the United States has not taken and announced a decision to withdraw its military forces from Vietnam and to end all intervention in the internal affairs of the country.

Anything which could tend to delay such a result or make it more difficult should, we think, be avoided. On the contrary, the interest of world peace and the friendship which we feel for the United States make us wish eagerly that the United States would accept the above conditions as soon as possible; they are the only ones which would allow an effort for a settlement. As soon as this should happen, you can be sure that France would be certain to assist in the opening of the necessary negotiations.

With best personal good wishes,

C. de Gaulle”

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, International Meetings and Travel File, Presidentʼs Honolulu Conference. Secret. The President and Rusk were on board the airplane en route to Honolulu; see footnote 2, Document 68.↩
  2. Transmitted in telegram 3575 to Paris, January 30. (Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 VIET S)↩