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goes, it will be exceedingly difficult if not impossible to hold Southeast Asia”; such a defeat would lead others to question whether “the United States has the will and the capacity to deal with the Communist offensive in that area.” Quoted in Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History (New York, 1983), p. 252.

52. “Kennedy Considered Supporting Coup in South Vietnam,” August 1963, National Security Archive, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB302/index.htm.

53. McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 164.

54. Telegram from the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State, January 6, 1965, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, volume II, Vietnam, January–June 1965 (Washington, D.C., 1996), pp. 12–19; hereafter cited as FRUS, Vietnam.

55. Telegram from the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State, January 6, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 24. Although published as a separate document, this is a continuation of the cable cited above.

56. Memorandum from the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Johnson, January 27, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 95–97. Emphasis in the original.

57. Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam, January 30, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 114. The text identifies Bundy as the author of the cable.

58. Brian VanDeMark, Into the Quagmire: Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War (New York, 1995), p. 63.

59. Memorandum from the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Johnson, February 7, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 174–181.

60. Paper by the Members of the Bundy Mission (A Policy of Sustained Reprisal), undated [February 8, 1965], FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 184–185. Emphasis added.

61. Memorandum for the Record, February 8, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 192–197. The author of the memorandum was CIA director John McCone. Bundy was presiding in the president’s absence.

62. Memorandum from the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Johnson, February 7, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 175.

63. Memorandum from Senator Mike Mansfield to President Johnson, February 8, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 204.

64. Memorandum from Senator Mike Mansfield to President Johnson, February 8, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 204.

65. Letter from the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to Senator Mike Mansfield, February 9, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 208–211.

66. Memorandum from Senator Mike Mansfield to President Johnson, February 10, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 226–227. Emphasis in the original.

67. Letter from the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to Senator Mike Mansfield, February 11, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 237–238.

68. David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest (New York, 1972), p. 462.

69. Telegram from the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State, February 7, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 165. The author of this cable was John McNaughton.

70. Telegram from the Commander, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (Westmoreland) to the Commander in Chief, Pacific (Sharp), February 23, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 351.

71. Telegram from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Wheeler) to the Commander in Chief, Pacific (Sharp), February 27, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 380.

72. Telegram from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to the Embassy in Vietnam, March 2, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 395.

73. Paper by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (McNaughton), March 10, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 430. Emphasis in the original.

74. Johnson Report Outline, March 14, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 439.

75. Memorandum by the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, March 16, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 447.

76. Telegram from the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State, March 18, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, pp. 454–457.

77. Memorandum from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Secretary of Defense McNamara, March 20, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam, p. 466.

78. National Security Action Memorandum No. 328, April 6, 1965, FRUS, Vietnam,