Preface

The publication Foreign Relations of the United States constitutes the official record of the foreign policy of the United States. The volumes in the series include, subject to necessary security considerations, all documents needed to give a comprehensive record of the major foreign policy decisions of the United States together with appropriate materials concerning the facts that contributed to the formulation of policies. Documents in the files of the Department of State are supplemented by papers from other government agencies involved in the formulation of foreign policy.

The basic documentary diplomatic record printed in the volumes of the series is edited by the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, Department of State. The editing is guided by the principles of historical objectivity and in accordance with the following official guidance first promulgated by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg on March 26, 1925:

There may be no alteration of the text, no deletions without indicating the place in the text where the deletion is made, and no omission of facts which were of major importance in reaching a decision. Nothing may be omitted for the purpose of concealing or glossing over what might be regarded by some as a defect of policy. However, certain omissions of documents are permissible for the following reasons:

a.

To avoid publication of matters that would tend to impede current diplomatic negotiations or other business.

b.

To condense the record and avoid repetition of needless details.

c.

To preserve the confidence reposed in the Department by individuals and by foreign governments.

d.

To avoid giving needless offense to other nationalities or individuals.

e.

To eliminate personal opinions presented in despatches and not acted upon by the Department. To this consideration there is one qualification: in connection with major decisions it is desirable, where possible, to show the alternative presented to the Department before the decision was made.

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Principles of Selection for Foreign Relations, 1958–1960, Volume II

In selecting documents for this volume the editors first developed a research plan based on the topics to be included and on the records at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, the Department of State, and the U.S. Mission at the United Nations. At the Eisenhower Library, particular attention was given to the Ann Whitman file with its master collection of National Security Council memoranda of discussion and other institutional documents. These NSC records were supplemented by copies of NSC documents in the Executive Secretariat files of the Department of State. The editors also reviewed other pertinent records at the Eisenhower Library, and they believe that no documentation relevant to the subject matter of this volume was either overlooked or withheld.

The editors had complete access to the records of the Department of State and the U.S. Mission at the United Nations. They reviewed all the central indexed decimal files of the Department of State and the various special decentralized files (lot files) relevant to this volume that were originally maintained by Department policymakers at the bureau, office, division, and staff levels. A complete list of the files which they consulted in preparing this volume is on pages IX–XII. Similar research was conducted in the records of the U.S. Mission at the United Nations.

The documentation regarding U.S. policies in the United Nations focuses on the question of expanding the U.N. membership and other institutional questions taken up by the General Assembly. The editors have presented material on Chinese and Hungarian representation at the United Nations, admission of new members, and, in particular, Soviet Chairman Khrushchev’s visit in 1960. Documentation on the principal political and substantive issues considered by the United Nations is included in Foreign Relations volumes covering those topics.

Two separate compilations document the negotiations leading to the treaty on Antarctica and the two conferences on the Law of the Sea. In the compilation on the foreign affairs implications of the beginning of the exploration of outer space, the editors focused primarily on high-level U.S. Government discussion of the question. The documents on Antarctica and the Law of the Sea included in this volume were selected primarily from the files of the Department of State which coordinated U.S. policymaking on these subjects. The documents on outer space are drawn more particularly from the Whitman File at the Eisenhower Library, specifically the memoranda of discussion at NSC meetings. Identification of particular files and subseries of documents is included in the first footnote to each document.

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The declassification process in the Department of State and in other government agencies, described on page VI, resulted in the withholding of a very small percentage of the documentation originally proposed for inclusion in this volume. The editors are confident that these few deletions do not distort the principal lines of policy originally compiled and now printed here.

Editorial Methodology

The documents in the volume are presented chronologically according to Washington time. Memoranda of conversations are placed according to the time and date of the conversation, rather than the date the memorandum was drafted.

Editorial treatment of the documents published in the Foreign Relations series follows Office style guidelines, supplemented by guidance from the Editor in Chief and the chief technical editor. The source text is reproduced as exactly as possible, including marginalia or other notations, which are described in footnotes. Obvious typographical errors are corrected, but other mistakes and omissions in the source text are corrected by bracketed insertions: a correction is set in italic type; an omission in roman type. Brackets are also used to indicate text that has been omitted because it deals with an unrelated subject or because it remained classified after the declassification review process. The amount of material not declassified has been quantified by noting the number of words, lines of source text, or pages of source text that were omitted. All ellipses and brackets that appear in the source text are so identified by footnotes.

The first footnote to each document indicates the document’s source, original classification, distribution, and drafting information. The source footnote also provides the background of important documents and policies and indicates if the President or Secretary of State read the document.

Editorial notes and additional annotation summarize pertinent material not printed in this volume, indicate the location of additional documentary sources, describe key events, and provide summaries of and citations to public statements that supplement and elucidate the printed documents. Information derived from memoirs of participants and other first-hand accounts has been used where possible to supplement the official record.

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Declassification Review Procedures

Declassification review of the documents selected for publication was conducted by the Division of Historical Documents Review, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Department of State. The review was made in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and the criteria established in Executive Order 12356 regarding:

1)

military plans, weapons, or operations;

2)

the vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations, projects, or plans relating to the national security;

3)

foreign government information;

4)

intelligence activities (including special activities), or intelligence sources or methods;

5)

foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States;

6)

scientific, technological, or economic matters relating to national security;

7)

U.S. Government programs for safeguarding nuclear materials or facilities;

8)

cryptology; and

9)

a confidential source.

Declassification decisions entailed concurrence of the appropriate geographic and functional bureaus in the Department of State and of other concerned agencies of the U.S. Government, and communication with foreign governments regarding documents of those governments. The principle guiding declassification review is to release as much information as is consistent with contemporary requirements of national security and sound foreign relations.

Suzanne E. Coffman compiled the documents on the United Nations and Charles S. Sampson prepared the sections on Antarctica, Law of the Sea, and Outer Space, under the supervision of Editor in Chief John P. Glennon. Althea W. Robinson of the Editing Division of the Historian’s Office performed the technical editing under the supervision of Rita M. Baker. Barbara A. Bacon of the Publishing Services Division (Paul M. Washington, Chief) oversaw production of the volume. Do Mi Stauber prepared the index.