NOTES OF THE PRESIDENT'S BREAKFAST MEETING WITH CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS AND POLICY ADVISORS - 1968/01/31

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00382490
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 C00382490
Meeting began: 8:40 a. m.
ii ET Meeting ended: 10:15 a.m.
NOTES OF THE PRESIDENT'S
BREAKFAST MEETING
WITH
CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
AND
POLICY ADVISORS
January 31, 1968
In the Mansion
The President: I appreciate your coming here. I hope Senator Russell
can be ouf of the hospital as quickly as possible.
Our people have talked with General Eisenhower. In addition, we have
talked with Senator Russell, McGeorge Bundy, George Ball, Henry
Cabot Lodge and General Taylor. I have ciscussed this matter with
my senior foreign policy advisors and with many of the men I have
mentioned who are outside of government. I intend to ask General
Ridgeway to come in to discuss this with me.
I want to review the problems of the Nation with you. There is not
a war spirit in the country, but we do have more sympathizers and
"agents of the enemy" in this country working against us.
I have always felt that man's judgment is no better than his information.
We have spent a great deal of time on this situation. I have received
reports from 90 ambassadors. I asked Clark Clifford, George Ball, Henry
Cabot Lodge, and General Taylor to come in Sunday and go over this.
We are calling on men like Mark Clark and Admiral McDonald to look
at it. We have talked to Senator Smith, Senator Stennis and Senator
Russell.
A desperate attack is being launched against us in Vietnam. At the
same time the number of incidents has changed from 57 to more
than 570 during the past year in and around the DMZ in Korea. This
Pueblo seizure was well planned.
The JCS reviewed the military plans and have told me they have done
everything we can for Westmoreland. Everything he has requested
we have granted. All of them believe he is prepared to handle the
situation in Vietnam.
General Wheeler: I will read to you excerpts received at 4:18 this morn-
ing from General Westmoreland.
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In it he reports on the country's wide attacks throughout South Vietnam.
There were heavy attacks in Saigon. The DMZ and Khesanh are quiet.
We have inflicted very heavy losses on the enemy. At Kontun 300 enemy
were killed.
We estimate the enemy has lost 3,000 men killed in action in the last
two days. This compares with about 300 allied losses, including 100
U.S. We know they are prepared for a major offensive at Khesanh.
The President: We still face a big challenge at Khesanh. At home many
people want to destroy confidence in your leaders and in the South Viet-
namese government. I ask you to measure your statements before you
make them. The greatest source of Communist propaganda statements
is our own statements.
We are going to stand up out there. We are not about to return to the
enclave theories.
President Eisenhower said, what I want most for the President is for
him to win the war.
(A copy of the telephone conversation with General Eisenhower is attached
as Appendix A.)
The enemy has about 40,000 men around Khesanh. You won't hear much
in the press about how bad the enemy's bombing in Saigon was last night.
You won't hear many speeches about the North Korean's attempt to cut off
President Park's head and to kill the American Ambassador. All we
hear about is how bad our bombing is.
We see both of these actions in Vietnam and in Korea as a coordinated
challenge.
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