Access to the recordings of President Johnson's telephone conversations at the Johnson Library resulted in the inclusion of transcripts or summaries of conversations with senior U.S. policymakers. The selected tape recordings deal almost exclusively with the President's involvement in the early days of the Pueblo crisis. Almost all of the documents printed here were originally classified. The Information Response Branch of the Office of IRM Programs and Services, Bureau of Administration, Department of State, in concert with the appropriate offices in other agencies or governments, carried out the declassification of the selected documents. The following is a summary of the most important issues covered in the volume.
Parenthetical citations are to document numbers.
The attainment of these goals was not without difficulty. During 1964-1968, the Republic of Korea faced internal and external threats that jeopardized its security and shook its confidence. The internal crisis occurred in the spring and summer of 1964 with the eruption of student anti-government demonstrations targeted against the government of President Pak Chung Hee. Like previous episodes of unrest, these large-scale public protests of 1964 led to the imposition of martial law and derailed for a time normalization talks with Japan. In part as a result of U.S. encouragement and advice the internal crisis lessened.