102. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to Secretary of State Rusk1
Washington, September 10, 1965.
- 1.
- In his farewell conversation with Harlan Cleveland yesterday,2 the President made a few comments on nuclear arrangements in Europe which remind me that we have unfinished staff work in this field.
- 2.
- Harlan opened the conversation by saying that he thought the most important element of his new job was to work on problems on nuclear sharing. The President cut in and said he had two particular concerns here—(1) that he did not wish to pick a quarrel unnecessarily with the Russians, and (2) that he did not wish to get pinned into any position which would not have Congressional support. He made it clear that [Page 244] before we adopted any new proposal or returned to any old one, we should be sure that we have a position which is understood and supported on the Hill.
- 3.
- We are evidently a long way from having any such position today. The general language which we have used since last December will not be sufficient in October. In the light of the President’s opinions, I doubt if we can return—at least without very careful preparation—to anything like our MLF position of 1964.
- 4.
- For these reasons, it seems to me essential that we have an early and thorough discussion of this matter, and I will give you a ring to see how you think we should go about it.
McG.B.