Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXVII, Mainland Southeast Asia; Regional Affairs

43. Supplementary Memorandum From Acting Secretary of State Katzenbach to President Johnson¹

Washington, October 8, 1967.

SUBJECT

• Your Meeting with the Prime Minister of New Zealand

In addition to the points mentioned in my memorandum of October 7,² I recommend you tell Prime Minister Holyoake the following with respect to DOD procurement:

1. We are prepared to discuss the purchase of up to $500,000 worth of New Zealand lamb for use by our armed forces.

2. We are planning to overhaul in New Zealand aircraft and vehicles used by the Navyʼs Antarctic operation, and also to procure more supplies and equipment for this operation in New Zealand. This could involve up to $200,000 during the balance of fiscal year 1969.

3. The DOD Procurement Information Officer stationed in Australia will continue to pay visits to New Zealand at three-month intervals. We look forward to the day when enough procurement business has developed to enable us to meet the GNZʼs request to station a procurement representative in New Zealand permanently.

The foregoing points are derived from the conclusions of a study completed by DOD on the possibilities of expanding procurement in New Zealand. The attached discussion is drawn from a DOD memorandum approved October 8 by the Deputy Secretary of Defense.³ You will note that the main objection to the lamb purchase is the likelihood of an adverse reaction in Congress, as was the case with the 1966 purchase. However, we concur with DOD that this smaller purchase could be justified.

Nicholas deB. Katzenbach

1. Source: Department of State, S/S-Visits Files: Lot 70 D 418, V 70A. Secret. Drafted by Brower with concurrences from Brown, Commander Kuhn of DOD/ISA, and Fred H. Sanderson, Director of the Office of Food Policy and Program, Bureau of Economic Affairs, Department of State. On the covering memorandum from Bundy to Katzenbach, recommending that the Acting Secretary sign this memorandum, Bundy wrote the following note: “ʼHʼ does not concur in recommendation #1 [U.S. Army lamb purchases from New Zealand].This is likely to cause a real storm in Congress. More importantly, we would be going back on our commitment that last time was to be a one-time exercise. Therefore I do not think we should make this recommendation to the President. However, if you think otherwise, I believe that this memo to the President is well worded in that it states the facts frankly [?] to him. WPB.”
2. Document 42.
3. Attached, but not printed.