Office of the Historian

Sources

The Foreign Relations statute requires that the published record in the Foreign Relations series include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation on major foreign policy decisions and actions of the U.S. Government. It further requires that government agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government 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. The editors believe that in terms of access this volume was prepared in accordance with the standards and mandates of this statute, although access to some records was restricted, as noted below.

The editors 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. Intelligence-related files maintained by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research became available to the Department historians only after this volume was compiled. Arrangements have been made for Department historians to have access to these records for future volumes; if any documentation relevant to this volume is found, it may be included in a subsequent volume.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Johnson 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 other federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of these agencies and the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.

The Department of State has arranged for access to the audiotapes of President Johnson’s telephone conversations, which are held at the Johnson Library. The first audiotapes became available to the editors in late 1994, with most to follow during 1995 and 1996. The editors decided not to delay publication of this volume, but if relevant records are found [Page XIV] among these telephone conversations, they may be included in a later Foreign Relations volume.

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

Since 1991, the Central Intelligence Agency has provided expanded access to Department historians to high-level intelligence documents from those records still in the custody of that Agency. Department of State historians’ access is arranged by the History Staff of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. Department of State and CIA historians continue to work out the procedural and scholarly aspects of the access, and the variety of documentation made available and selected for publication in the volumes has grown.

The following are the particular files and collections consulted and cited in this volume.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Subject-Numeric Indexed Central Files. In February 1963, the Department changed its decimal central files to a subject-numeric central file system. The new system was divided into broad categories: Administration, Consular, Culture and Information, Economic, Political and Defense, Science, and Social. Within each of these divisions were subcategories. For example, Political and Defense contained four subtopics: POL (politics), DEF (defense) CSM (Communism), and INT (intelligence). Numerical subdivisions further defined them.
    • The following were the most important files used in this volume. Other files are indicated in the annotation to the documents.
      • DEF(ANF), Atlantic nuclear force
      • DEF(MLF), Multilateral force
      • DEF 1 EUR W, plans and policy toward Western Europe
      • DEF 6 FR, armed forces, France
      • DEF 4 NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization pact and agreements
      • DEF 6 NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization armed forces
      • DEF 12 NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization armaments
      • EEC 6 UK, British membership in the European Economic Community
      • ECIN 3 EEC, European Economic Community
      • ECIN 6 EEC, membership in the European Economic Community
      • FN 12 GER W, balance of payments with West Germany
      • INCO–GRAINS EEC, grain questions with the European Economic Community
      • NATO 3, North Atlantic Treaty Organization meetings
      • NATO 3 BEL(BR), North Atlantic Treaty Organization meetings, Brussels
      • NATO 3 FR(PA), North Atlantic Treaty Organization meetings, Paris
      • NATO 7, visits of NATO officials
      • POL FR–US, political relations with France
      • POL EUR W, political relations with Western Europe
    • Lot Files. Documents from the central files have been supplemented by materials from decentralized personal, bureau, and office files, the lot files of the Department of state. A list of the lot files used in the preparation of the volume follows:
      • Ball Files: Lot 74 D 272
        • Files of Under Secretary of State George Ball, 1961–1967.
      • Bohlen Files: Lot 74 D 379
        • Files of Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen, 1942–1970.
      • Bruce Diaries: Lot 64 D 327
        • Diaries of Ambassador David K.E. Bruce, 1948–1974.
      • Conference Files: Lot 66 D 110
        • Collection of documentation on international conferences abroad attended by the President, the Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials, May 1961–December 1964.
      • Conference Files: Lot 66 D 347
        • Collection of documentation on official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and on trips taken and international conferences attended by the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials for 1965.
      • Conference Files: Lot 67 D 586
        • Collection of documentation on official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and on trips taken and international conference attended by the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials, September 1966–April 1967.
      • Conference Files: Lot 68 D 453
        • Collection of documentation on official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and on trips taken and international conferences attended by the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials, May 1967–January 1968.
      • Conference Files: Lot 68 D 475
        • Collection of documentation on official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and on trips taken and international conferences attended by the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials, June–November 1967.
      • Conference Files: Lot 69 D 182
        • Collection of documentation on official visits by heads of state and foreign ministers to the United States and on trips taken and international conferences attended by the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials for 1968.
      • INR Files
        • Files retained by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
      • Kohler Files: Lot 71 D 460
        • Files of Ambassador Foy D. Kohler, 1962–1967
      • Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204
        • Exchanges of correspondence between the President and heads of foreign governments, 1953–1964.
      • Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 294
        • Exchanges of correspondence between the President and heads of foreign governments, 1964–1965.
      • Presidential Correspondence: Lot 67 D 272
        • Exchanges of correspondence between the President and heads of foreign governments, 1966.
      • President’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 66 D 149
        • Collection of the President’s memoranda of conversation with foreign visitors, 1956–1964.
      • President’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 70 D 217
        • Collection of the President’s memoranda of conversation with foreign visitors, 1965–1968.
      • 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 conversation.
      • Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330
        • Memoranda of conversation of the Secretary and Under Secretary of State, 1961–1964.
      • SIG Files: Lot 74 D 164
        • Records of the Senior Interdepartmental Group, 1967–1968.
      • S/MF Files: Lot 66 D 182
        • Reports, memoranda, memoranda of conversation, and other documents on the multilateral force, 1963–1965.
      • S/S Files: Lot 70 D 209
        • Country files, memoranda, policy papers, and memoranda of conversation to and from the Executive Secretariat, 1963–1966.
      • S/S Files: Lot 70 D 216
        • Miscellaneous S/S files, 1964–1966
      • S/S Files: Lot 74 D 164
        • Secretary of State’s memoranda for the President’s evening reading and for luncheon meetings, 1964–1971.
      • S/S–I Files: Lot 79 D 246
        • One box of S/S microfilm on selected topics including conversations with leading Soviet officials for the 1960s.
      • S/S–NSC Files: Lot 70 D 265
        • Master set of papers pertaining to the National Security Council meetings, including policy papers, position papers, and administrative documents, 1961–1966.
      • S/S–NSC Files: Lot 72 D 316
        • Master file of National Security Action Memoranda (NSAMs), 1961–1968.
      • S/S–NSC Files: Lot 72 D 318
        • Cabinet and National Security Council records, 1966–1968.
  • Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
    • Papers of Lyndon B. Johnson, National Security File
      • Agency File
      • Country File
      • Files of McGeorge Bundy
      • Files of Robert Komer
      • Files of Walt W. Rostow
      • Memos to the President
      • National Security Council Histories
      • NSC Meetings File
    • Papers of Lyndon B. Johnson, Special Files
      • Meeting Notes File
      • Office of the President File
    • Papers of Francis M. Bator
    • Rusk Appointment Book
    • Tom Johnson’s Notes on Meetings

Published Sources

Only those publications cited in the volume are listed here.

  • De Gaulle, Charles. Major Addresses, Statements and Press Conferences of General Charles de Gaulle, May 19, 1958–January 31, 1964. New York, undated.
  • Europa Arkiv, Zeitschrift fur International Politik, 1965.
  • U.K. House of Commons. Parliamentary Debates, Fifth Series. London.
  • U.S. Department of State. American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967. Washington.
  • ———. Department of State Bulletin. Washington.
  • ———. Documents on Germany, 1944–1985. (Revised edition) Washington, 1971.
  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962. Washington, 1963.
  • ———. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968–69. Washington.
  • U.S. Senate. Congressional Record, 1966. Washington.
  • Wilson, Harold. The Labour Government, 1964–1970: A Personal Record. London, 1971.