McGeorge Bundy Biography and Timeline

Trinidad Plan Political Review

Bundy joins the presidential review of the Trinidad plan as Kennedy demands a less overt American appearance.

Role range: 1960-1962

Presidential Briefing on Revised Plan

Bundy meets CIA and military officials and then briefs Kennedy on the revised invasion planning.

Role range: 1960-1962

D-Day Air Strikes Cancelled

Bundy informs Cabell that dawn air strikes are not to proceed until they can be launched from the beachhead.

Role range: 1960-1962

Landing Diversion Deadline Passed

Bundy confirms that no presidential diversion order has been issued, allowing the landing operation to proceed.

Role range: 1960-1962

Adviser

Appointed military adviser to President Kennedy & later to President Johnson

Adviser

Appointed military adviser to President Kennedy & later to President Johnson

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1966

Doctrine of Domino Theory

If Vietnam falls it will be impossible to hold South East Asia

Role range: 1960-1975

Military Aid

Reccomends a "hard hitting operation" to support President Diem

Role range: 1960-1975

Mobilization

Reccomends sending 8,000 troops to Vietnam

Role range: 1960-1975

Nuclear Power

A U-2 spy photographs the secret site where Russian missiles will be located in Cuba

Role range: 1961-1966

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bundy learned that photographic evidence confirmed Soviet offensive missile installations in Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bundy informed Kennedy at 8:45 a.m. that a major international crisis had developed.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bundy coordinated meetings and intelligence distribution as advisers compared military and political responses to the missile deployment.

Role range: 1961-1966

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bundy helped organize the decision process that produced Kennedy's choice of a naval quarantine.

Role range: 1961-1966

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bundy coordinated White House preparations for the President's address and the formal establishment of ExComm.

Role range: 1961-1966

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bundy participated in the intense ExComm deliberations over the U-2 loss and Khrushchev's changing settlement terms.

Role range: 1961-1966

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bundy helped coordinate immediate follow-up after the Soviet decision to dismantle and remove the offensive missiles.

Role range: 1961-1966

September Tonkin Memorandum

Bundy recorded the administration's review of the September Gulf episode, noting that the evidence of hostile vessels and an intentional attack remained thin and uncertain.

Role range: 1960-1975

Visit to South Vietnam for the 1st time

National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy visits South Vietnam for the 1st time

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1969