Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XIV, Berlin Crisis, 1961–1962

78. Record of Meeting of the Berlin Steering Group¹

Washington, July 20, 1961, 5 p.m.

1. The meeting discussed the need to inform DeGaulle, Macmillan, and Adenauer of the course U.S. policy is taking. It also reviewed Mr. Bundy’s Draft Record of Action covering the NSC meeting of 19 July.² The President referred to the scheduled weekly meeting of the Steering Group at 1100, Monday, 24 July 1961,³ when possibly the draft of the President’s speech set for 25 July will be available.

2. General Taylor is impressed with the apparent dearth of political planning anent the Berlin situation. Nowhere does there seem to have been any review of alternative negotiating positions vis-à-vis the Soviets. Instead, State seems only to have been concerning itself with comments on the various levels of military preparedness measures proposed by Defense.

LJL
Colonel, USA

1. Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Box 34, Interdepartmental Steering Group. Top Secret. Prepared by Colonel Lawrence J. Legere on July 22.
2. A copy of the draft record of action is in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, NSC Meetings.
3. The Steering Group meeting on July 24 dealt primarily with the British balance-of-payments question and Bizerte. (Meeting of the Interdepartmental Steering Group; National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Box 34, Interdepartmental Steering Group)