Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Soviet Union, Eastern Mediterranean, Volume XXIV

53. Memorandum From the Secretary of State’s Special Assistant for Intelligence (Armstrong) to the Secretary of State¹

Washington, June 18, 1956.

SUBJECT

• Documentary Material Supplemental to Khrushchev’s Speech

In connection with your San Francisco speech,² you should know that the Department and CIA have each separately obtained copies of the so-called “Unpublished Documents” that were supposed to have been distributed among the delegates to the XXth CPSU Congress. … A translation into English runs to 34 double-spaced, legal length pages. There are 17 documents involved, including Lenin’s “testament,” Lenin’s note regarding the treatment of nationalities, and other notes by Lenin regarding domestic policy.

We and CIA have been examining the documents to ascertain their authenticity and value in the event of publication. The tentative consensus is that, while a small part of the material has not been previously published, most of it has appeared in one form or another in the West. On balance there seems to be little additional propaganda or political advantage to the United States in publication, but the documents would be of some interest to students of Soviet history and would tend to some degree to keep alive interest in the Khrushchev speech. We have reason to believe that both the British and French have also by now obtained these documents, although they have not indicated any plans for publication.

The view of EUR, P and ourselves is that the documents would probably better serve US interests if released by the British, but in any case, at a date to follow your speech in San Francisco. EUR is exploring the possibility of the British doing so. Alternatively, the documents could be released as a routine matter here, at such time and in such fashion as to encourage their tie-in with and focus upon the Khrushchev speech, following your speech in San Francisco. When the choice between these alternatives is clearer, a recommendation will be made to you through Mr. Murphy.³

If you care to see a copy of the documents prior to departing for San Francisco, I have them available.

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 761.00/6–1956. Secret.
2. For text of Dulles’ address before the 41st annual convention of Kiwanis International at San Francisco on June 21, a speech entitled “The Contest Between Despotism and Freedom,” see Department of State Bulletin, July 2, 1956, pp. 3–7.
3. In a memorandum of June 19 to Murphy, Armstrong summarized the origin of the documents, which he said numbered 18, not 17, and how they were obtained and repeated as recommendations to the two alternatives mentioned in this memorandum, apparently leaving it to Murphy as to how the documents were to be published. There is no indication on this memorandum of the decision Murphy reached. (Department of State, Central Files, 761.00/6–1956) But on June 30, the Department announced that it recently obtained through a confidential source copies of certain documents it believed were distributed to the delegates at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February. These 18 documents were published in the Department of State Bulletin of July 23, 1956, with an explanation that the Department decided to make the documents available in the interests of scholarship and historical perspective and in light of the fact that on June 30 the CPSU made public a segment of the documents in the group. (Ibid., pp. 153–161)