From the archives: JFK’s top advisers in Vietnam, 1963

Plei Mrong, Vietnam, Oct. 2, 1963: Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara and Gen. Harkins listen to a briefing from Capt. Richard Hong, of Honolulu, at Plei Mrong (strike force) training camp. The briefing was held under a parachute canopy. America’s top military leaders sloshed through muddy remote villages of the strife-torn Republic of Vietnam to learn first-hand how the war against the Viet Cong was going.

McNamara and Taylor spent several dawn-to-dusk days talking with American and Vietnamese military officials. They spoke with Vietnamese villagers, Montagnards and even with captured Viet Cong rebels.