416. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom) and the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Gray), White House, Washington, December 31, 19591
SUBJECT
- Current United States Policy Towards Cuba
On the authorization of the Under Secretary I called on Mr. Gordon Gray to provide him a copy of the Cuba policy paper approved by the President.2S/P was informed prior to the call of my intention to do so. Starting with my conversation early last summer with Messrs. Murphy and Dulles,3 I set forth for Mr. Gray some of my own thought processes respecting Cuba including the momentary hopeful period of late summer when some of the largest United States [Page 724] companies in Cuba were attempting to negotiate their differences with the Cuban Government with prospects of settlement. I explained the impact of the October 26–27 events in Cuba, the conclusions drawn from them, and the resulting policy paper drafted for the Secretary which he took up with the President. Mr. Gray read the paper and we discussed for a few minutes the desirability of continuing with our preparation of an outline to be used in a forthcoming meeting of the NSC Planning Board where Cuba will be discussed.
Mr. Gray recalled the NSC meeting4 presided over by the Vice President. The latter said that Cuba was no longer just a diplomatic problem for the United States. The problems of business, finance, and defense relating to that country were of such serious proportion that pressures were now impinging on all of the Government. Following some additional discussion, during which the Acting Secretary had explained that the State Department had the over-all Cuban situation very much on its mind and was acting accordingly, the Acting Secretary had agreed that an outline paper would be prepared for the NSC Planning Board. Mr. Gray felt that it was still desirable to have the paper and the discussion. It would remove some of the pressure for information which has been steadily growing on the part of representatives of other departments.
I said that I would talk to Mr. Smith and that we would see if we could prepare the paper as agreed. I said we would also be drawing up an outline for discussion of U.S. problems with the Dominican Republic, based on a paper prepared for the Secretary. He indicated his awareness of this and his desire to have this also move forward.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.37/12–3159. Secret; Limited Distribution. Drafted by Rubottom.↩
- See Document 387.↩
- Not further identified.↩
- See Document 410.↩