Office of the Historian

366. Memorandum From the Counselor of the Department of State and Chairman of the Policy Planning Council (McGhee) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)0

Washington, June 22, 1961.

SUBJECT

  • Turkish IRBM’s
1.
This memorandum is intended to discharge the obligation which the President laid upon me when he asked that I study and report on the matter of Turkish IRBM’s.1
2.
It has been concluded that action should not be taken to cancel projected deployment of IRBM’s to Turkey.
3.
This conclusion is based primarily on the view that, in the aftermath of Khrushchev’s hard posture at Vienna, cancellation of the IRBM deployment might seem a sign of weakness. Moreover:
(a)
When the Secretary of State raised this matter with the Turkish Foreign Minister at CENTO, the Turkish reaction was strongly adverse.
(b)
When the Turkish Foreign Minister discussed the problem with SACEUR, General Norstad underlined the military importance of sending IRBM’s to Turkey. This made it unlikely that any attempt to persuade the Turkish military that they should abandon this project would succeed.
4.
The Secretary of State has discussed this conclusion with General Norstad, who concurs.
George C. McGhee2
  1. Source: Department of State, S/S–NSC Files: Lot 72 D 316, NSAM 35. Secret.↩
  2. See Document 361.↩
  3. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩