170. Editorial Note
In January 1962, Foreign Minister Kreisky sounded out Ambassador Matthews regarding the possibility of a visit by Prime Minister Gorbach to Washington for a meeting with President Kennedy. (Airgram A–351 from Vienna, January 23; Department of State, Central Files, 033.6311/1–2362) Initially, the United States sought to postpone a visit until 1963 because of President Kennedy’s extremely full schedule. However, in an April 2 memorandum to the President, Secretary of State Rusk recommended inviting Gorbach to Washington May 2–4 for a private visit in order to clarify U.S. views on neutral states’ participation in the Common Market. (Ibid.) The White House approved this recommendation on April 17.
Gorbach met with Under Secretary Ball and with President Kennedy on May 3 on Austria’s relationship with the EEC. He also held discussions with Kennedy regarding the Berlin crisis. The memoranda of these conversations relating to the EEC are ibid., 763.00/5–362. The memorandum of conversation covering the Berlin issue is ibid., Presidential Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 66 D 149. For text of the joint communique issued at the end of the Kennedy–Gorbach talks, see Department of State Bulletin, May 21, 1962, page 832. For a summary of the visit, see volume XIII, pages 88–89.