319. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to Secretary of Defense McNamara1
Dear Bob:
I suggest that both of us should take a good look at the Thai MAP program for the coming year, including the ways in which a satisfactory level may be funded. I do not know what the exact amount should be but understand that the field has made a strong case for seventy million dollars, and that your staff has been thinking in terms of about forty-five million dollars.
While I know that the Thai have in the past tended to take a somewhat relaxed attitude toward the growing internal threat they are facing, I am impressed with the fact that they now seem to be putting a much greater effort into facing up to it. I understand that DOD staff studies indicate very substantial accomplishments on the military side during the last six months and exceedingly fine cooperation in all that we have asked of them for our operations both in Viet-Nam and Laos. On the political side they have also been a source of great strength. The Thai Government, especially Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman who is emerging as an Asian leader of real stature, has given us the strongest kind of political support. I thus feel that we should do what we can to preserve and nurture this important asset in Southeast Asia.
Sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 19 US–THAI. Secret. An attached covering memorandum from U. Alexis Johnson to Rusk, indicated that Johnson drafted this letter after discussion with Rusk. Johnson stated: “I deliberately avoided tying you to any figure but I believe $60 million would be satisfactory.”↩