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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAfter four days as President, LBJ issues National Security Action Memorandum on Vietnam
After four days as President, LBJ issues National Security Action Memorandum on externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy in Vietnam, today 1963:
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After four days as President, LBJ issues National Security Action Memorandum on Vietnam (Original Post)
mahatmakanejeeves
Nov 2022
OP
70sEraVet
(3,501 posts)1. The start of something big. Not good, but big.
Turbineguy
(37,331 posts)2. For 70 years, everything we did
was a reaction to communism.
Kid Berwyn
(14,904 posts)3. A 180 from NSAM 263
JFKs Order to Withdraw
The Secrecy Surrounding NSAM-263
The 1,000-man withdrawal from Vietnam was originally planned to take place during the election campaign of 1964. However, the Buddhist crisis erupted in April 1963 and proceeded during the summer to knock the political bottom out of the regime in Saigon.
(See Photos)
At the May SECDEF conference, as the crisis was unfolding, McNamara announced concrete plans to withdraw 1,000 men, not in 1964, but by the end of 1963. Kennedy needed a recommendation to start the withdrawal in 1963and he needed it right away. He needed to start the withdrawal early and had do it without being publicly associated with the military optimism accompanying that recommendation. Kennedy accomplished that by having McNamara make the recommendation. Kennedy and McNamara steamrolled their opposition in the uproar that occurred when Kennedy made McNamara announce his recommendations to the press on the steps of the White House on October 2, 1963.
(Learn More)
I n the third interview of his oral history, McNamara made it clear that both those for and against the withdrawal were acutely aware of the importance of a public announcement and the concept of concrete.
NSAM 263 was not written until 11 October 1963, but it recorded President Kennedys historic actions that took place on six days earlier on 5. Here is the presidents decision on the withdrawal from Vietnam:
The president approved the military recommendations contained in Section I B (1-3) of the report, but directed that no formal announcement be made of the implementation of plans to withdraw 1,000 U.S. military personnel by the end of 1963. [Emphasis added]
The military recommendations in Section I B (1-3) of the McNamara-Taylor report were these: 1) that MACV and Diem come up with what had to be done to complete the military campaign in I, II, and III Corps by the end of 1964 and IV Corps by the end of 1965; 2) that the training program be established so that the South Vietnamese could take over essential functions and permit the bulk of American forces to be withdrawn by that time; and 3) that the Defense Department should announce in the very near future the 1,000-man withdrawal.
Continues
https://jfkjmn.com/nsam-263/
The Secrecy Surrounding NSAM-263
The 1,000-man withdrawal from Vietnam was originally planned to take place during the election campaign of 1964. However, the Buddhist crisis erupted in April 1963 and proceeded during the summer to knock the political bottom out of the regime in Saigon.
(See Photos)
At the May SECDEF conference, as the crisis was unfolding, McNamara announced concrete plans to withdraw 1,000 men, not in 1964, but by the end of 1963. Kennedy needed a recommendation to start the withdrawal in 1963and he needed it right away. He needed to start the withdrawal early and had do it without being publicly associated with the military optimism accompanying that recommendation. Kennedy accomplished that by having McNamara make the recommendation. Kennedy and McNamara steamrolled their opposition in the uproar that occurred when Kennedy made McNamara announce his recommendations to the press on the steps of the White House on October 2, 1963.
(Learn More)
I n the third interview of his oral history, McNamara made it clear that both those for and against the withdrawal were acutely aware of the importance of a public announcement and the concept of concrete.
NSAM 263 was not written until 11 October 1963, but it recorded President Kennedys historic actions that took place on six days earlier on 5. Here is the presidents decision on the withdrawal from Vietnam:
The president approved the military recommendations contained in Section I B (1-3) of the report, but directed that no formal announcement be made of the implementation of plans to withdraw 1,000 U.S. military personnel by the end of 1963. [Emphasis added]
The military recommendations in Section I B (1-3) of the McNamara-Taylor report were these: 1) that MACV and Diem come up with what had to be done to complete the military campaign in I, II, and III Corps by the end of 1964 and IV Corps by the end of 1965; 2) that the training program be established so that the South Vietnamese could take over essential functions and permit the bulk of American forces to be withdrawn by that time; and 3) that the Defense Department should announce in the very near future the 1,000-man withdrawal.
Continues
https://jfkjmn.com/nsam-263/
Irish_Dem
(47,058 posts)4. "Let them have their war."
Quote attributed to LBJ soon after JFK's murder.