28. Editorial Note
On May 25, 1961, Secretary Rusk signed a memorandum to President Kennedy suggesting that he inform Chairman Khrushchev, during their Vienna meeting, that the United States proposed to install a direct telephone connection between the Department of State and the Embassy in Moscow. An attached memorandum from John McCloy to Secretary Rusk indicated that the proposal resulted from the work of a panel that “recently studied measures to reduce the risk of war by miscalculation.” A memorandum from McGhee to Kohler identified the panel as one convened by McCloy and headed by Thomas Schelling of Harvard University. McGhee noted that President Kennedy and Chairman Khrushchev did not discuss the telephone link. These memoranda are in Department of State, S/P Files: Lot 70 D 199, USSR. Secretary Rusk’s May 25 memorandum is printed in volume V, Document 53.