Two typewritten presidential memos to JFK’s chief military advisor, General Maxwell Taylor, signed “John Kennedy” and “JK,” respectively, each one page, 6.75 x 8.75, White House letterhead (the second memo on an unheaded sheet of the same stock), July 10, 1961. The first memo, which bears the designation “Secret,” reads in full: “You will recall this Saturday we decided that we were going to ask for two reports on the CIA, one which would call for legislation and one which would not. We should try to get that as quickly as possible.” A pencil notation on the memo, evidently by Taylor, reads: “Meeting of the Killian Committee scheduled for July 18th reported to President 12 July 1961.” The second memo reads: “Would you talk to [CIA Director] Allen Dulles about [Washington litigator] Fowler Hamilton and if he feels he is good would you ask [Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell] Gilpatric, who comes from New York to check on him. If all of the reports come up good arrange for me to see him towards the end of this week.” A pencil notation reads: “Done. Reported orally 12 July.” Three days after Kennedy made public the Bay of Pigs disaster in the previous April, he appointed a board of inquiry, headed by Taylor and including Dulles among its members, to consider whether the United States should continue to conduct similar covert operations. Kennedy also revived the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, headed by MIT President James R. Killian, to make an investigation of the CIA from a technical standpoint. In May, Taylor submitted the first of several reports, concluding that “the impossibly of running [the invasion] as a covert operation under CIA should have been recognized as early as 1960.” The second memo evidently relates to the search for a replacement for Dulles, who formally resigned from the CIA in the following November. Though passed over the position in favor of John McCone, Fowler was appointed by Kennedy as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provided economic and humanitarian aid to developing nations. Staple and file holes, subtle soiling with a few scattered tiny spots, and light handling wear (a few faint creases), otherwise fine condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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