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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011

October 13, 1961

Dear General Taylor:

I should like you to proceed to Saigon for the purpose of appraising tho situation in South Vietnam, particularly anas [sic] it concerns the threat to the internal security and defense of that country and adjacent areas. After you have conferred with the appropriate United States and South Viet-Namese authorities including the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific I would like your view on the courses of action which our Government might take at this Juncture, to avoid a further deterioration in the situation in South Viet-Nam and eventually to contain and eliminate the threat to its independence.

In your assessment you should bear in mind that the initial responsibility for the effective maintenance of the independence of South Viet-Nam rests with the people and government of that country. Our efforts must be evaluated, your recommendations formulated, with this fact in mind.

While the military part of the problem is of great importance in South Viet-Nam, its political, social, and economic elements are equally significant, and I shall expect your appraisal and your recommendations to take full account of them.

General Maxwell Taylor The White House Washington, D. C.

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