Office of the Historian

Sources

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The Foreign Relations statute requires that the published record in the Foreign Relations series include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation on major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant U.S. diplomatic activity. It further requires that government agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government engaged in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support cooperate with the Department of State Historian by providing full and complete access to records pertinent to foreign policy decisions and actions and by providing copies of selected records. Many of the sources consulted in the preparation of this volume have been declassified and are available for review at the National Archives and Records Administration.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files (“lot files”) of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department’s Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All the Department’s indexed central files for these years have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). Almost all the Department’s decentralized office (or lot) files covering this period, which the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, have been transferred or are in the process of being transferred from the Department’s custody to Archives II. During the period in which this volume was compiled, some lot files were kept in the Washington National Records Center at Suitland, Maryland.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Kennedy and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[Page XIV]

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, Volume XXV

In preparing this volume, the editors made use of the Presidential papers and other White House records at the John F. Kennedy Library. Most of the relevant documents were found in the Departments and Agencies Series or the Subjects Series of the National Security Files. The papers of Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Harlan Cleveland, and the papers of Special Assistant to the President Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. were also consulted. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was Chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council; therefore documents from the Vice Presidential Files and the Vice President’s Science File in the Lyndon B. Johnson Library were consulted. Research was also done in the Papers of Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson in the Princeton University Library.

The records of the Department of State were of primary importance in the compilations on the United Nations and general international issues. The Department’s central files contain the cable traffic between the Department and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, U.S. representatives to other UN agencies, and U.S. diplomatic missions; memoranda of diplomatic conversations; and memoranda proposing action or providing information. Some important documents are found only in the Department’s lot files. The conference files maintained by the Executive Secretariat contain briefing materials as well as records of conversations. Lot files of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs and of the Office of International Scientific and Technological Affairs were especially useful.

Records of the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the USIA Historical Collection, and the Historical Reference Collection of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration supplemented the State Department records.

Department of State historians also have access to records of the Department of Defense, particularly the records of the Secretaries of Defense and their major assistants and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Central Intelligence Agency provides the Department of State historians access to intelligence documents from records in its custody and at the Presidential libraries. This access is arranged and facilitated by the CIA’s History Staff, part of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, pursuant to a May 1992 memorandum of understanding.

In the course of preparing this volume, the editors proposed to include the texts of 15 documents and summaries of several others regarding the activities of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The Board, which was established by Executive Order 10938 in May 1961, advised the President “with respect to the objectives and conduct of foreign intelligence and related activities of the United States [Page XV] which are required in the interests of foreign policy and national defense and security.” Access for Department of State historians to PFIAB’s records was established by an agreement of 1996. The Board subsequently suspended the research access for Department historians for security reasons in February 2000, and, at PFIAB’s request, the Historian’s Office returned to PFIAB all copies of documents obtained from PFIAB files, before declassification of any of those records was approved by PFIAB. Because there was no likelihood that the access agreement with PFIAB would soon be reinstated, the Historian’s Office decided to proceed with the publication of this volume without PFIAB documents. PFIAB documents relative to the Kennedy presidency will continue to be sought for inclusion in the Foreign Relations series and, when obtained and declassified, will be published in a subsequent volume.

Almost all of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of the agencies mentioned, the assistance of their staffs, and especially the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.

The following list identifies the particular files and collections used in the preparation of this volume. The declassification and transfer to the National Archives of the Department of State records is in process, and most of these records are already available for public review at the National Archives. The declassification review of other records is going forward in accordance with the provisions of Executive Orders 12958 and 13142, under which all records over 25 years old, except file series exemptions requested by agencies and approved by the President, should be reviewed for declassification by 2003.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
    • Lot Files. These files may be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, Record Group 59.
      • USIA Historical Collection
        • Reference works, visual materials, transcripts of oral histories, and copies of official records documenting the activities and history of the USIA and its predecessor agencies
  • National Archives and Records Administration
    • Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State
      • Central Files. In February 1963 the Department of State switched from a decimal file number to a subject-numeric system for its Central Files. [Page XVI]
        • 110.10: Organization, functions, rules, and regulations of the Department of State
        • 301: United Nations
        • 303: Admission of new members into the United Nations
        • 310 and subseries: United Nations: charter; membership; delegations
        • 320 and subseries: United Nations General Assembly
        • 324.8411: United Nations High Commissioner’s Office for Refugees
        • 330 and subseries: United Nations Security Council
        • 341.7: United Nations Human Rights Commission
        • 341.9: United Nations Narcotic Drugs Commission
        • 345.2: United Nations Narcotic Drug Supervisory Body
        • 399.731: Law of the Sea
        • 611.61: Political relations between the United States and the Soviet Union
        • 701.022: U.S. policy toward outer space
        • 701.56311: U.S. space tracking stations
        • 702 and subseries: Antarctica
        • 911.802: Communications, United States, space travel and artificial satellites
        • ORG 1: Organization and administration, general policy, plans, coordination
        • ORG 1 OSD–STATE: General policy, plans, coordination, Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of State
        • ORG 8: Organization and administration: establishment, functions, reorganization
        • POL 10 UN: Political affairs and relations, colonialism and imperialism
        • POL 27–4 UN: Political affairs and relations, use of international forces
        • REF 3 UN: Refugees and migration, organizations and conferences
        • SCI 11–1 ANT: Science and technology, area research programs, Antarctica
        • SOC 11–5: Social conditions, narcotic drugs
        • SOC 14: Social conditions, human rights and race relations
        • SOC 14 ECOSOC: Social conditions, human rights and race relations, UN Economic and Social Council
        • SOC 14 UN: Social conditions, human rights and race relations, United Nations
        • SP 1–1 US–USSR: Space and astronautics, international cooperation, United States and the Soviet Union
        • SP 6 UN: Space and astronautics, peaceful uses of space
        • SP 10: Space and astronautics, space flight and exploration
        • SP 10 US: Space and astronautics, space flight and exploration, United States
        • SP 10 US/MERCURY: Space flight and exploration, U.S. Project Mercury
        • SP 10 US/GEMINI: Space flight and exploration, U.S. Project Gemini
        • SP 10 US/USSR: Space flight and exploration, United States and the Soviet Union
        • SP 16: Space and astronautics, fragments, unidentified flying objects
        • UN 3 GA: United Nations General Assembly, meetings and sessions
        • UN 3 SC: United Nations Security Council, meetings and sessions
        • UN 3–1: United Nations, meetings, sessions, agenda
        • UN 6 CHICOM: United Nations, membership and association, Communist China
        • UN 8: United Nations, structure and functions
        • UN 8 SC: United Nations, structure and functions, Security Council
        • UN 10: United Nations, budget and finance
        • UN 10–4: United Nations, budget and finance, contributions
      • Lot Files
      • Conference Files: Lot 65 D 366
        • Records of official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States, and international conferences attended by the President or Secretary of State, 1961, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
      • Conference Files: Lot 65 D 533
        • Records of official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States, and international conferences attended by the President or Secretary of State, 1962, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
      • Conference Files: Lot 66 D 110
        • Records of official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States, and international conferences attended by the President or Secretary of State, 1961–1964, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
      • IO Files: Lot 64 D 191
        • Woodruff Wallner Subject Files
      • IO Files: Lot 67 D 378
        • Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Richard N. Gardner’s files, 1961–1965
      • IO/OES Files: Lot 68 D 379
        • Files of the Office of International Economic and Social Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Communications Satellites, 1962–1967
      • IO/OES Files: Lot 69 D 169
        • Files of the Office of International Economic and Social Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, including records pertaining to Antarctica
      • IO/UNP Files: Lot 71 D 504
        • Division of Political and Security Affairs, Office of UN Political Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, UN General Assembly Position Papers, 1953–1967
      • IO/UNP/ODA Files: Lot 69 D 130
        • Files of the Division of Dependent Area Affairs, Office of UN Political Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs
      • Management Staff Files: Lot 69 D 434
        • Miscellaneous Subject Files of the Management Staff, Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Organization and Management; includes Interagency Liaison Files, 1962–1968
      • Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204
        • Exchanges of correspondence between the President and the heads of foreign governments for 1953–1964, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
      • President’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 66 D 149
        • Cleared memoranda of Presidential conversations with foreign visitors, 1956–1964, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
      • Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192
        • Files of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 1961–1969, including texts of speeches, miscellaneous correspondence files, White House correspondence, chronological files, and memoranda of telephone conversations
      • SCI Files: Lot 65 D 473
        • Central Files of the Office of International Scientific and Technological Affairs, September 1962–December 1963
      • S/P Files: Lot 67 D 548
        • Subject files, country files, chronological files, documents, drafts, and related correspondence of the Policy Planning Staff, 1957–1961
      • S/P Files: Lot 70 D 199
        • Files of the Policy Planning Council for 1963–1964
      • S/S-NSC Files: Lot 70 D 265
        • Master set of papers pertaining to National Security Council meetings, including policy papers, position papers, and administration for 1961–1966, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
      • S/S-NSC Files: Lot 72 D 316
        • Master file of National Security Action Memoranda (NSAMs), 1961–1968, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
      • S/S-NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95
        • Administrative and miscellaneous National Security Council files, including NSC Records of Action, for 1947–1963, maintained by the Executive Secretariat
  • Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
    • Record Group 306, Records of the U.S. Information Agency
      • USIA Files: Lot 64 D 171
        • Chronological Files of the Director (Edward R. Murrow)
      • USIA Files: Lot 67 D 317
        • Files of the Office of the Director, 1961
      • USIA Files: Lot 67 D 333
        • Files maintained by the Office of the Director, 1962
      • USIA Files: Lot 68 D 393
        • Director’s Staff Meeting Notes
      • USIA Files: Lot 68 A 4933
      • USIA Files: Lot 70 D 449
        • Records maintained by the Office of the Director, 1963
      • USIA Files: Lot 88 A 18
    • Record Group 383, Records of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
      • ACDA/DD Files: FRC 77 A 17
        • Files of Deputy Director Adrian S. Fisher for 1961–1969
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
      • Historical Reference Collection
        • Correspondence relating to the meetings between Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden and Soviet Academician A. A. Blagonravov during 1962 and 1963
  • Central Intelligence Agency
      • DCI (McCone) Files, Job 80–B01285A
      • DCI (Dulles) Files, Job 80–B1676R
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
      • Gordon Gray Papers
      • President’s Office Files
      • Records of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
      • White House Office Files
        • Project Clean Up
      • Whitman File
        • Presidential Transition Series
        • NSC Records
  • John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
      • Cleveland Papers
        • Papers of Harlan Cleveland, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, 1961–1965
      • National Security Files
        • Bundy Chron Files
        • Bundy Files
        • Bundy Memoranda to the President
        • Departments and Agencies Series
        • Meetings and Memoranda Series
        • Subjects Series
      • President’s Appointment Books
      • President’s Office Files
        • Staff Memos
      • Arthur M. Schlesinger Papers
        • Papers of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Special Assistant to President Kennedy, 1961–1963
      • Wiesner Papers
      • White House Central Subject Files
  • Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
      • Vice Presidential File
      • Vice President’s Science File
      • Office Files of Bill D. Moyers
      • National Security File
        • Subject File
      • Rusk Appointment Book
  • Princeton University, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton, New Jersey
      • Stevenson Papers
        • Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson, includes his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 1961–1965