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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
TOP SECRET – Sensitive
| DATE | EVENT OR DOCUMENT | DESCRIPTION |
| 12 Apr 1961 | Rostow Memorandum for President Kennedy | W. W. Rostow suggested several ways for "gearing-up the whole Vietnam operation." These included: assigning a first-rate, fulltime backstop man in Washington to Vietnam affairs (Lansdale); a Vice Presidential visit in Southeast Asia; exploring ways to use new American techniques and gadgets in the fight against the VC; replacing the ICA (AID) chief; high-level discussion of tactics for persuading Diem to broaden his government; a Presidential letter to Diem in which Kennedy would reaffirm support for him but express the urgency attached to finding a "more effective political and morale setting" for military operations. |
| 20 Apr 1961 | The Presidential Program for Vietnam | Deputy Secretary of Defense Gilpatric was directed to appraise the current status and future prospects of the VC drive in South Vietnam, then recommend a series of actions to prevent communist domination of the GVN.
(At this same time: the Bay of Pigs invasion force surrendered and the Laos crisis was coming to a head.) Gilpatric and Lansdale headed a Task Force established immediately to carry out these instructions. |
| 27 Apr 1961 | Gilpatric Task Force Report submitted; the NSC meets | This first Task Force draft called for a moderate acceleration of the CIP program approved in January, with stress on vigor, enthusiasm and strong leadership. The report recommended building on present US-GVN programs, infusing them with a new sense of urgency and creating action programs in almost every field to create a viable and increasingly democratic government in SVN to prevent communist domination. No ARVN increase |
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TOP SECRET – Sensitive
