JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2459
MCNAMARA-TAYLOR STATEMENT ON VIETNAM RELEASED
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago today, October 2, 1963, the White House issued a statement following the return of Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor from their special mission to South Vietnam.
The statement began...
"Secretary McNamara and General Taylor reported to the President this morning and to the National Security Council this afternoon.Their report included a number of classified findings and recommendations which will be the subject of further review and action."
The following recommendations were approved by the President...
1. We will adhere to our policy of working with the people and Government of South Vietnam to deny this country to communism.
2. The military program in SV has made progress and is sound in principle.
3. Major US assistance...is needed only until the insurgency has been suppressed or until the national security forces of the Government of South Vietnam are capable of suppressing it.^
4. The political situation in SV remains deeply serious.
5. It remains the policy of the United States...to support the efforts...to defeat aggression and to build a peaceful and free society.
^The McNamara-Taylor Report said that 1000 US military advisers "COULD be withdrawn" from South Vietnam by the end of the year 1963, and that "the major part of the U.S. military task can be completed by 1965."
MCNAMARA-TAYLOR STATEMENT ON VIETNAM RELEASED
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago today, October 2, 1963, the White House issued a statement following the return of Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor from their special mission to South Vietnam.
The statement began...
"Secretary McNamara and General Taylor reported to the President this morning and to the National Security Council this afternoon.Their report included a number of classified findings and recommendations which will be the subject of further review and action."
The following recommendations were approved by the President...
1. We will adhere to our policy of working with the people and Government of South Vietnam to deny this country to communism.
2. The military program in SV has made progress and is sound in principle.
3. Major US assistance...is needed only until the insurgency has been suppressed or until the national security forces of the Government of South Vietnam are capable of suppressing it.^
4. The political situation in SV remains deeply serious.
5. It remains the policy of the United States...to support the efforts...to defeat aggression and to build a peaceful and free society.
^The McNamara-Taylor Report said that 1000 US military advisers "COULD be withdrawn" from South Vietnam by the end of the year 1963, and that "the major part of the U.S. military task can be completed by 1965."
JFK and Bob McNamara
June 19, 1962
Photo by Cecil Stoughton
JFK Library Image
