Exhibit 397

Memorandum for the Record: Meeting with President, 16 March 1962

Exhibit 397 · Memorandum for the record

Memorandum for the Record: Meeting with President, 16 March 1962

The President said bluntly that we were not discussing the use of U.S. military force

Records a White House meeting with the President, Taylor, the Attorney General, Bundy, Gilpatric, Lemnitzer, McCone, Alexis Johnson and Lansdale. Lemnitzer mentions plans for 'plausible pretexts to use force'. The President says no decision on the use of U.S. military force can be made.

Source: Office of the Secretary of Defense (Brig. Gen. Edward Lansdale)
Date: 16 March 1962
Quoted from: p. 3, paragraph 1
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/5754594/National-Security-Archive-Doc-06-Memorandum-for.pdf
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Lemnitzer's remark is at p. 2. The record does not name Northwoods or state a rejection of that paper; no approval appears in the records read.

Cited by

Finding DEF-2.10: Primary record A Joint Chiefs of Staff memorandum of 13 March 1962, forwarded to the Secretary of Defense as "a preliminary submission suitable only for planning purposes," listed pretexts for U.S. military intervention in Cuba, including "We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba." Lansdale's memorandum for the record says the President said on 16 March 1962 that "we were not discussing the use of U.S. military force", and the cited records show no approval and no execution of any item.