330. Memorandum From Robert M. Sayre of the National Security Council Staff to the Presidentʼs Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)1
SUBJECT
- Developing Crisis with Haiti
In Duvalierʼs “inauguration” address he made pleasant noises about cooperation with the United States. Having set the stage, Ambassador Timmons believes Duvalier is now ready to present his bill.
Duvalier plans, according to usually reliable palace sources, to call in Timmons and request loans, ask Timmons to go to Washington to see if he can get them, and imply very strongly that he need not come back if he is not successful.
The Haitian Ambassador has presented an export license request for thirty T–28A aircraft which the Department has told the trade sources believed to be involved that it will not approve. It did this in [Page 774] warning aircraft dealers that they should not ship without a license—something the Department had reason to believe they planned to do.
Timmons has asked for permission to take leave beginning June 30, during the course of which he would consult in Washington. All of the reasons why Ambassador Timmons wants urgent consultation are not clear, but the primary one seems to be the need to reassess our position in the light of changed and expected [unexpected?] events. State has approved his request for leave and consultation.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Haiti, Vol. III. Confidential. The memorandum was mistakenly dated 1961.↩