Office of the Historian

100. Message From President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev0

Washington, May 13, 1963.

Dear Mr. Chairman: I thank you for your message of April twenty-ninth1 and appreciate the frankness with which you discussed some of the outstanding issues between us, even though I can find little encouragement from the gaps which separate us on these problems. I am especially concerned about Laos, on which I felt we had reached an agreement to which we have on our side given full support.

I have also received your message of May eighth2 on the subject of nuclear tests, to which I shall be replying separately.

I am more than ever of the opinion that a visit to Moscow by a personal representative would be useful, and I have asked the Secretary of State, who has long desired to accept Mr.Gromyko’s invitation to return his visit to this country, to undertake this task. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, including the fact that he has some long outstanding commitments, the date of ten to twelve June, which you have suggested, is a [Page 287] very inconvenient time for him. Moreover, he will be accompanying me on my visit to Europe in the latter half of June. He would, however, be prepared to come at any time in July or August that is convenient to you, and I should be grateful if you could suggest a date.3

  1. Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. No classification marking. A note on the source text indicates it was handed to Dobrynin by Thompson at 6 p.m. May 13. Another copy is in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, USSR, Khrushchev Correspondence.↩
  2. Document 98.↩
  3. Document 99.↩
  4. Printed from an unsigned copy.↩