On 23 September 1963, before Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and General Maxwell Taylor left for Saigon, Kennedy discussed telling South Vietnam’s president, Ngo Dinh Diem, of plans to withdraw U.S. troops. On the recording, McNamara hoped to begin withdrawing “if the military situation improves”; Kennedy thought it better to use the depth of U.S. support as leverage on Diem. [1]
On 2 October the White House said, on McNamara and Taylor’s return, that the major part of the U.S. military task could be completed by the end of 1965. [2]
On 11 October Kennedy signed National Security Action Memorandum 263. It approved the military recommendations, including withdrawing 1,000 U.S. military personnel by the end of 1963, but directed that there be “no formal announcement” of the plans. [3]
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