58. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, Gettysburg, July 13, 19561
[Here follow several paragraphs regarding the President’s trip to Panama.]
(2) We discussed Khrushchev’s speech and the controversy between the various Communist Parties which had resulted. I indicated that I felt that important forces were at work and that the Soviet Communists were in a dilemma of either allowing liberal [Page 128] forces to grow and obtain recognition, or else revert to Stalinist type of repression, in which case they would lose the ground they had been trying to gain with the free nations as having become more civilized and liberal.
The President referred to a letter he had received2 criticizing my having spoken publicly about this matter. He said he merely sent this to me for information and not because he accepted that viewpoint.
I said this problem like many others could be dealt with more readily if only part of the problem were considered. Our difficulty in the State Department was that we had to weigh all angles. In this case, it was very important from the standpoint of the Mutual Security legislation to portray our past policies as successful and to have some reason such as their success for continuing these policies. Furthermore, all that I said and did in this matter was very carefully weighed not only in the Department of State but also with Mr. Allen Dulles. The President indicated his complete understanding of the matter and approval of what I had done.
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[Here follows the remainder of the memorandum.]