260. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1
Washington, July 24, 1968, 12:25 p.m.
Mr. President:
Sect. Rusk reports as follows on timing of strategic missiles talks:
- —He raised the matter with Dobrynin. Dobrynin said he had no answer and assumed this was because the leaders in Moscow were “very busy.”
- —Sect. Rusk assumes this is due to their preoccupation with the Czech crisis.
- —If the Soviets intervene militarily in Czechoslovakia, he assumes that the President would wish to consider afresh the timing of these talks.
- —If, as a result of the current Soviet-Czech meetings the situation is peacefully resolved, he would propose going back shortly to Dobrynin and press him again.
Walt
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Rostow Files, Strategic Missile Talks, Box 11. Secret. A handwritten notation on the source text indicates that the memorandum was received at 12:32 p.m.↩