Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXXII, Dominican Republic; Cuba; Haiti; Guyana

173. Memorandum From the Acting Deputy Director for Coordination of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State (McAfee) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Gordon)¹

Washington, May 9, 1966.

SUBJECT

• Minutes of the 303 Committee Meeting May 5, 1966²

The minutes of the meeting of the 303 Committee held on May 9, 1966 contain the following items:

[Omitted here is a 1-sentence paragraph on Cuba.]

“Dominican Republic

• “a. The request for additional monies for the election of Balaguer was approved after it became clear that of the [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] requested only [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] was to be furnished currently; the remainder was to be held on reserve. Use of this reserve would be cleared with the committee.
• “b. Ambassador Johnson had several questions dealing with the funding channels and the sources of private money [1 line of source text not declassified].
• “c. Mr. Moyers wondered if the input of funds was sufficiently diverse and not too conspicuous. In regard to the printing of propaganda, he hoped more than one plant was being utilized.
• “d. Mr. Vance felt that whatever funds are necessary to insure the election should be provided.
• “e. Mr. Rostow noted the weak structure on which the Balaguer political scaffolding was based and hoped that Balaguer could be persuaded to shift his philosophy somewhat closer to modern times.
• “f. It was pointed out that regardless of proof, accusations would be made that the U.S. Government was behind Balaguer.
• “g. There was some discussion of having a contingency statement available to ward off accusations. Mr. Moyers concluded that saying nothing was the best defense. It was pointed out that accusations before the election had the damage potential rather than post-election bleats.”

1. Source: Department of State, INR/IL Historical Files, Dominican Republic 1966. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted on May 9.
2. The minutes of this 303 Committee meeting have not been found. In an undated proposed agenda for the May 5 meeting McAfee summarized the proposal cited in Document 172 and its status thus far. McAfee also referred to a May 4 memorandum from Gordon to Ambassador Johnson in which Gordon stated ARAʼs approval of the proposal in Document 172 and recommended U. Alexis Johnsonʼs support of it. McAfee stated: “INR agrees with the ARA position. We have considered the merits of authorizing only a part of the requested [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] at this time, but do not believe them solid enough to justify modification of the [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] proposal. We have little doubt the whole [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] would ultimately have to be authorized in any event, and we see no real point in depriving [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] of flexibility in this operation.” In an undated memorandum for the record prepared by McAfee on May 5, he recounts Denney briefing U. Alexis Johnson on the May 5 303 Committee meeting: “Mr. Denney noted that [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] had already been spent and that continued expenditures increased the likelihood of a leak which would reveal U.S. intervention.” McAfee continued, “Mr. Denney noted that we had queried CIA about previous support for Bosch which had apparently been provided at some previous time. Thus Bosch might be aware that we could be similarly engaged with Balaguer. Mr. Denney noted that Boschʼs campaign seemed to be gaining momentum and that one such leak might contribute significantly to putting his campaign over.” (All in Department of State, INR/IL Historical Files, Dominican Republic 1966)