◆ SpookStack

comment on it, and believes that it will cause infinite trouble. However, he is substantially the good soldier about it, and is prepared to try and make the best possible US case. I' As I recall it, Tracy Barnes was to provide the detailed tactical briefing and this presumably had been accomplished by the time of my arrival. Perhaps Bill Bowdler may recall what Tracy in fact told Stevenson. Looking at your four points, I would say that Stevenson certainly under- stood No.2, [that there would be a D-Day invasion by anti-Castro troops] •.. but I assume [d) that Tracy had said something to him about your points I [that there would be a D-2 air strike) and 3 [that there would be a D-Day air strike]; and that we did not make point 4 [the specific date of either D-Day or D-2) clear to Stevenson, leaving him under the impression, as I wrote in A Thousand Days, that the invasion would not take place while the Cuban item was under discussion at the UN. I do not know why stevenson was not informed more precisely about the date. It'was probably because the date had not been finally set in Wash- ington, and we supposed that that question could be faced farther down the road. 95/ Obviously there is some reason for speculation about the accuracy of the comments in A Thousand Days , since Schlesinger was not in attendance during the full course of Barnes's presentation (he was delayed in Washington for his meeting with Rusk), and he assumed that there was probably mention of the upcoming D-2 and D-Day tactical air operations. If D-2 was - 254 -