Rusk and McNamara’s Memorandum to Kennedy

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk believe that Taylor’s recommendation of sending 8,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam is too small of a contingent to affect the “deteriorating situation” but large enough to draw the United States into a more complicated situation. They issue a memorandum to the president recommending that the United States fully commit itself to preventing the fall of South Vietnam to communism, recognizing that additional U.S. and SEATO forces might be necessary to achieve this objective.1