Johnson, like Kennedy before him and Nixon after, tape-recorded many of his meetings. On May 27, 1964, he said to Bundy (as transcribed by Michael Beschloss in his book Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes 1963-64):

It looks to me like we're getting into another Korea. It just worries the hell out of me. I don't see what we can ever hope to get out of there with, once we're committed. I believe that the Chinese Communists are coming into it. I don't think that we can fight them 10,000 miles away from home. … I don't think it's worth fighting for and I don't think that we can get out. It's just the biggest damned mess that I ever saw.