Historical Documents - Office of the Historian

May–July 1962: Further Discussions in Washington, Geneva, and Moscow

59. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, May 30, 1962, 10 a.m.

Source: Department of State Central Files, 762.00/5–3062. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted and initialed by Hillenbrand and approved in S on May 31. The conversation was held in Secretary Rusk’s office at the Department of State. On May 23 Hillenbrand prepared a list of 19 talking points for this conversation. (Ibid., 762.00/5–2362) Seven supplementary points were included in a May 28 memorandum from Kohler to Rusk. (Ibid., 762.00/5–2862)

60. National Security Action Memorandum No. 158

Washington, May 31, 1962.

Source: Department of State, NSAMs: Lot 72 D 316. Top Secret. Copies were sent to Secretary of Defense McNamara, Director of Central Intelligence McCone, and General Taylor.

61. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Kennedy

Washington, June 5, 1962.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 762.54/6–562. Secret. Drafted by Day on June 4 and cleared by OSD/ISA and JCS.

62. Editorial Note

63. Editorial Note

64. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, June 18, 1962, 11:30 a.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 762.00/6–1862. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by Hillenbrand and approved in S on June 19. The conversation was held in Secretary Rusk’s office at the Department of State.

65. Telegram From Secretary of State Rusk to the Department of State

Paris, June 20, 1962, midnight.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 762.00/6–2062. Secret; Limited Distribution. Repeated to Bonn, Berlin, Moscow, and London. Secretary Rusk visited Europe June 18–28 for discussions on topics of mutual concern.

66. Memorandum of Conversation

Berlin, June 21, 1962, 4 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 110.00–RU/6–2162. Secret. Drafted by Hillenbrand on June 22 and approved in S on June 25. The conversation was held in Mayor Brandt’s office.

67. Memorandum From Secretary of Defense McNamara to President Kennedy

Washington, June 21, 1962.

Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Box 37, 101 Soviet Buildup. Top Secret. The source text bears no drafting information. Two annexes entitled “Comparative Data Soviet-US Forces 1 Jan 61–1 July 62” and “Major Measures Taken To Improve Readiness of Soviet-US Forces” are not printed.

68. Memorandum of Conversation

Bonn, June 22, 1962, 11:30 a.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 110.11–RU/6–2262. Secret. Drafted by Hillenbrand on June 25 and approved in S on June 28. The meeting was held in Chancellor Adenauer’s Conference Room at the Palais Schaumburg. A detailed summary of this conversation was transmitted in Secto 39 from Bonn, June 22. (Ibid., 611.62A/6–2262)

69. Telegram From Secretary of State Rusk to the Department of State

Rome, June 23, 1962, 2 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 110.11–RU/6–2362. Secret. According to another copy, this telegram was drafted by Rusk and cleared by Kohler. (Ibid., Conference Files: Lot 65 D 533, CF 2122)

70. Memorandum From the President’s Press Secretary (Salinger) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)

Washington, June 25, 1962.

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. Secret. Attached to a July 5 memorandum of transmittal from Bundy to Kohler.

71. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Germany

Washington, June 30, 1962, 1:39 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.62A/6–3062. Secret; Priority; Eyes Only. Drafted by Hillenbrand and Fessenden, cleared by Kohler and Knight, and approved by Rusk.

72. Memorandum of Conversation Between the President’s Adviser on Disarmament (McCloy) and the Soviet Ambassador (Dobrynin)

Washington, July 3, 1962, 1 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.61/7–361. No classification marking. Drafted by McCloy. The full text is printed in volume VI.

73. Message From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy

Moscow, undated.

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. No classification marking. Translation. Handwritten notes at the top of the source text read: “Original and copy of translation retained by Kohler” and “Received at White House July 5/1962. Copy to Amb Thompson 7/7/62.” The source text bears no salutation or signature, but in a conversation with Rusk on July 12 (see Document 76), Dobrynin stated that when he delivered the message to the White House on July 5, he had indicated that it was intended as a message from Khrushchev to the President. (Memorandum of conversation, July 12; Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163)

74. Memorandum From the Secretary of State’s Special Assistant (Bohlen) to Secretary of State Rusk

Washington, July 6, 1962.

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. Secret. A copy was sent to Kohler.

75. Memorandum From the Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Weiss) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State (Johnson)

Washington, July 11, 1962.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 762.00/7–1162. Secret. Drafted and initialed by Weiss.

76. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, July 12, 1962, 4 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 762.00/7–1262. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted and initialed by Hillenbrand and approved in S on July 13. The meeting was held in Secretary Rusk’s office at the Department of State.

77. Memorandum of Conversation

Washington, July 17, 1962, 6 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. Secret. Attached to a July 18 memorandum of transmittal from Bundy to Rusk, which stated that Bundy had prepared the memorandum of conversation at the direction of the President who had approved it. Bundy also instructed Rusk to limit access to the memorandum “to those who really must know about it,” since the President wanted “Dobrynin to have confidence in the privacy of such talks.”

78. Letter From President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev

Washington, July 17, 1962.

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. No classification marking. The source text bears no drafting information.

79. Memorandum for the Record

Washington, July 19, 1962.

Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Box 38, 506 Bercon/Marcon. Secret. Drafted by Legere. Klein’s notes on this meeting are in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Germany, Berlin.

80. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Kennedy

Washington, July 20, 1962.

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Germany, Berlin. Secret. The source text bears the handwritten note: “Taken from Pres Week-end reading dtd 7/20/62.”

81. Telegram From the Embassy in the Soviet Union to the Department of State

Moscow, July 20, 1962, 6 p.m.

Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 65 D 533, CF 2135. Secret; Limit Distribution.

82. Telegram From Secretary of State Rusk to the Department of State

Geneva, July 22, 1962, 1 a.m.

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 762.00/7–2262. Secret; Priority. Passed to the White House. According to another copy, this telegram was drafted by Rusk and cleared by Kohler. (Ibid., Conference Files: Lot 65 D 533, CF 2134) Rusk was in Geneva July 20–25 to attend the Conference on Laos.

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