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ADMINISTRATIVE
MEMO
November 20, 1970
(11)
Mr. President:
Bob McNamara just called and spoke to me at considerable
length to the following effect.
1.
Two major studies are under way on Vietnam: one by
Halberstam, the other by the Institute for Policy Studies. The latter
is an extreme left wing operation including Marcus G. Raskin who,
briefly, Mac let into the White House in 1961, quickly to repent.
2. Halberstam is about to publish in Harper's a hatchet job
on Bob McNamara parallel to the very ugly piece he wrote on Mac
Bundy. These pieces are, in fact, portions of his book on Vietnam,
designed to demonstrate that President Johnson, Rusk, McNamara,
Bundy, and Rostow are personally responsible for Vietnam.
3.
What worries McNamara is that, from the information
flowing to him, both the Raskin group and Halberstam have available
a number of classified documents from the Government. They plan
to use these in a selective, damaging way against their targets.
McNamara reports that certain members or former members of the
Government feel they have the right and duty to "punish" those whom
they regard as individually responsible for Vietnam policy.
4.
Bob's main operational point was to express his hope that:
--
President Johnson's book would come out as soon as
possible; and
--
That on Vietnam the book would contain as much hard
documentary evidence as possible.
In general, he thinks the only way these attacks can be dealt with is by
the fullest statement possible of the truth.
I asked him if he thought that any of the people connected with
the compilation of the Defense Department history of Vietnam might be
involved in the passing of documents to characters of this kind. He said
it was wholly possible. He had asked John McNaughton to organize the
documents. He said he did not know who McNaughton had put on the job.
Their instruction was to collect documents and not write historical
analyses. They apparently did write history, some of which he believes
is biased. He said he has never been able to bring himself to look at
the Defense Departmen t history of Vietnam.
Walt Rostow
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"ocrText": "ADMINISTRATIVE\nMEMO\nNovember 20, 1970\n(11)\nMr. President:\nBob McNamara just called and spoke to me at considerable\nlength to the following effect.\n1.\nTwo major studies are under way on Vietnam: one by\nHalberstam, the other by the Institute for Policy Studies. The latter\nis an extreme left wing operation including Marcus G. Raskin who,\nbriefly, Mac let into the White House in 1961, quickly to repent.\n2. Halberstam is about to publish in Harper's a hatchet job\non Bob McNamara parallel to the very ugly piece he wrote on Mac\nBundy. These pieces are, in fact, portions of his book on Vietnam,\ndesigned to demonstrate that President Johnson, Rusk, McNamara,\nBundy, and Rostow are personally responsible for Vietnam.\n3.\nWhat worries McNamara is that, from the information\nflowing to him, both the Raskin group and Halberstam have available\na number of classified documents from the Government. They plan\nto use these in a selective, damaging way against their targets.\nMcNamara reports that certain members or former members of the\nGovernment feel they have the right and duty to \"punish\" those whom\nthey regard as individually responsible for Vietnam policy.\n4.\nBob's main operational point was to express his hope that:\n--\nPresident Johnson's book would come out as soon as\npossible; and\n--\nThat on Vietnam the book would contain as much hard\ndocumentary evidence as possible.\nIn general, he thinks the only way these attacks can be dealt with is by\nthe fullest statement possible of the truth.\nI asked him if he thought that any of the people connected with\nthe compilation of the Defense Department history of Vietnam might be\ninvolved in the passing of documents to characters of this kind. He said\nit was wholly possible. He had asked John McNaughton to organize the\ndocuments. He said he did not know who McNaughton had put on the job.\nTheir instruction was to collect documents and not write historical\nanalyses. They apparently did write history, some of which he believes\nis biased. He said he has never been able to bring himself to look at\nthe Defense Departmen t history of Vietnam.\nWalt Rostow"
}