71. Editorial Note

On February 21, 1961, Assistant Secretary of State Kohler sent Secretary of State Rusk a memorandum asking him to raise at a Cabinet meeting the question of Soviet Ambassador Menshikovʼs appointments with U.S. officials. In reply Rusk asked whether the U.S. Government might request the Ambassador to make all such appointments through the Department of State and how this practice conformed to Soviet procedures in Moscow. In an April 12 memorandum Kohler replied that Soviet practice was to conduct all appointments through either the Foreign Ministry or Ministry of Foreign Trade, but that in recent years direct contacts with Soviet officials had expanded, and the Department of State was “most reluctant to provide any excuse for a reversal of this trend.” To this end he suggested raising at Cabinet level coordination of Menshikovʼs appointments “in some fashion.” (All in Department of State, Central Files, 601.6111/4-1261)

Under Secretary of State Bowles discussed the problem with McGeorge Bundy following the Cabinet meeting on April 20 and proposed that the question be handled in a memorandum from the Department of State to the White House suggesting that individual memoranda be sent to each Cabinet member outlining the procedure for making appointments with Menshikov. (S/S memorandum, May 3; ibid., 601.6111/5-361) On May 20 the Department of State sent the memorandum to the White House asking that any official having “any discussion” with Menshikov provide the Department of State with a record of the conversation and offering to make available for such meetings, officers proficient in Russian. (Ibid., 601.6111/5-2061)