Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "2803399",
    "label": "Brief Chronology of Events, August 3-7, 1964",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2803399"
}

{
    "id": "2803399",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2803399",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Brief Chronology of Events, August 3-7, 1964",
    "description": "This is a memorandum relating a summary of events on August 3-7 from National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy to White House Press Secretary George Reedy.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2803399",
    "identifierLocal": "2",
    "creators": [
        "Bundy, McGeorge, 1919-1996"
    ],
    "collections": [
        "National Security Files",
        "Vietnam Country Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Vietnam War, 1961-1975",
        "Tonkin Gulf Incidents, 1964"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/8033/2803399/content/arcmedia/lbj/ptl/nllbj-img-tonkin-007-02_a.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/8033/2803399/content/arcmedia/lbj/ptl/nllbj-img-tonkin-007-02_a.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/8033/2803399/content/arcmedia/lbj/ptl/nllbj-img-tonkin-007-02_a.jpg",
    "imageCount": 4,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2803399",
    "naId": 2803399,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 7,
            "logicalDate": "1964-08-07",
            "month": 8,
            "year": 1964
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/8033/2803399/content/arcmedia/lbj/ptl/nllbj-img-tonkin-007-01_a.jpg",
    "mediaId": "922d9bf174231129",
    "ocrText": "2\nAugust 7, 1964\nFs\nMEMORANDUM : OR\nMR. GEORGE REEDY\nSubject: A brief chronology of events - August 3-7\nBy Monday morning, when I returned to Washington, the President\nhad already issued instructions on Sunday along the line of the\nannouncement which he read Monday morning. On Monday morning\nhe decided to make this order public. On Monday there was a\nprivate meeting with Secretaries Rusk and McNamara and General\nWheeler, and it was agreed that no further immediate action was\nneeded. On Tuesday (mid-morning) the President was informed by\nSecretary McNamara of the first reports of the second attack on the\nMaddox and c. Turner Joh. He was kept fully and promptly informed\nfrom that point forward on all action reports. Secretary McNamara\ngave a brief description of the existing situation at the scheduled NSC\nmeeting at noon, and the matter was then discussed in detail at lunch\nby the President with the two Secretaries, Mr. McCone, Mr. Vance\nand myself. All of us except the President had earlier engaged in a\ndetailed discussion of the choices of reply at the Pentagon, where the\nnecessary military information was most readily available. This\nmeeting at the Pentagon preceded the NSC meeting.\nDuring the luncheon meeting with the President the entire situation\nwas reviewed and a consensus was swiftly reached on the course of\naction on which the President decided. This discussion lasted for\nabout two hours and was marked by thoroughness, clarity, and an\nabsence of significant disagreement. The members of the meeting\nseparated then for the purpose of preparing the necessary orders.\nThe President ordered the scheduling of a full NSC meeting for 6:15\nto review his decision, and a meeting of the Leadership at 6:45 so that\nhe might inform them. At the 6:15 meeting it was clear that all members\nof the NSC were in accord with the President's decision, and in the meet-\ning of the Leadership a similar consensus readily developed.\nMeanwhile in the State Department and in the Defense Department all the\nnecessary orders and cables were put swiftly in motion on a coordinated\nbasis. The nature of the military orders hage since been made clear by\nSecretary McNamara's press conferences. The diplomatic track\nincluded a number of personal messag es from the President, immediate"
}