338. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in India1
1292. Please convey following message from President Johnson to Dalai Lama in reply to Dalai Lama’s letter of November 18.2
Begin text
Your Holiness:
I thank you for your gracious letter of November 18, 1964.
As you point out, the United States Government is deeply concerned with the abrogation of the basic human rights of the Tibetan people and the progressive elimination of their distinctive cultural and religious heritage by the Communist Chinese.
The United States welcomed the opportunities in previous years to assist in bringing the plight of the Tibetan people to the attention of world opinion through the United Nations. As Your Holiness is aware, the United States has also assisted directly in programs to alleviate the material hardships of the Tibetans who have been forced to leave their homeland.
Your Holiness may be assured that the deep and abiding interest of the United States in the welfare of the Tibetan people will continue. My Government welcomes the initiative of the Governments of El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Philippines to place the Tibetan question on the agenda [Page 734] of the Nineteenth Session of the United Nations General Assembly. We wish, of course, to see the Tibetan item succeed in the United Nations, and we will do everything appropriate to support it.
With assurances of my highest esteem.
Sincerely yours,
Lyndon B. Johnson. End text.
Embassy should indicate to Tibetans that Dept expects no publicity on exchange of correspondence. Embassy may at its discretion inform appropriate GOI officials of substance President’s letter.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 19 TIBET/US. Confidential; Limdis. Drafted by John W. Kimball of IO/UNP; cleared by Sisco, Officer in Charge of Indian Affairs David T. Schneider, Louise McNutt of FE/RA, Henry W. Allen of SCA/ORM, Bundy, Komer, and the President; and approved by Marshall Green. Repeated to USUN.↩
- Not printed. (Johnson Library, National Security File, Special Head of State Correspondence File, Tibet—Dalai Lama)↩