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 declassification review and opening for public review of all Department of State records no later than 30 years after the events is mandated by the Foreign Relations statute. The Department of State and other record sources used in the volume are described in detail in the section on Sources below.

[Page [XIV]] [Page XV]

Sources

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.

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 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.

In preparing this volume, the editors made extensive use of Presidential papers and other White House records at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. Numerous White House memoranda, including memoranda to the President, testify to President Johnson’s concern with issues relating to the Soviet Union. The bulk of the foreign policy records at the Johnson Library concerning the Soviet Union are in the USSR Country File and other component parts of the National Security File. Documentation on U.S. efforts during the last six months of 1968 to arrange a summit meeting and initiate arms control talks is found primarily in Walt Rostow’s files in the National Security File, particularly his files on “Chlodnick,” “Trip to Soviet Union,” and “Rusk-Dobrynin.”

The Department of State arranged for access to the many audiotapes of President Johnson’s telephone conversations that are held at the Johnson Library. These audiotapes include substantial numbers of telephone conversations between President Johnson and Secretary of State Rusk, Secretary of Defense McNamara, the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy, and key members of Congress. The editors of this volume selected for publication several audiotapes of President Johnson’s telephone conversations dealing with the Soviet Union. Transcripts were then prepared. Although the transcripts give the substance of the conversations, readers are urged to consult the recordings for a full appreciation of those dimensions that cannot be captured fully in a transcription, such as the speakers’ inflections and emphases that may convey nuances of meaning.

Second in importance only to the White House records at the Johnson Library were the records of the Department of State. The Department’s central files contain the cable traffic recording U.S. diplomatic [Page XVI] relations with the Soviet Union, memoranda of diplomatic conversations, and memoranda proposing action or providing information. Some important documents are found only in the Department’s lot files. The files of Foy D. Kohler contain memoranda of his conversations with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin during 1967, when Kohler was Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs. The Conference Files maintained by the Executive Secretariat contain briefing materials as well as records of conversations. Documentation on initiatives that were not approved is often found only in desk or bureau files.

The Central Intelligence Agency provides access to Department of State historians to high-level intelligence documents from those records in the custody of that Agency and at the Presidential libraries. This access is arranged and facilitated by the History Staff of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, pursuant to a May 1992 memorandum of understanding. Department of State and CIA historians continue to work out the procedural and scholarly aspects of identifying the key portions of the intelligence record.

This volume includes a number of intelligence records. Among the intelligence records reviewed for the volume were files of the Directors of Central Intelligence, particularly John A. McCone’s, CIA intelligence reports in White House files and in files of CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, and Historical Files of the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

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. Many of the 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 Order 12958, 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 2002.

Unpublished Sources

Department of State Lot Files
- INR/IL Historical Files
  - Files of the Office of Intelligence Coordination, containing records from the 1940s through the 1980s maintained by the Office of Intelligence Liaison, Bureau of Intelligence and Research
- Kohler Files: Lot 71 D 460
  - Files of Foy D. Kohler for 1962–1968, including memoranda of his discussions with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin and Foreign Minister Gromyko
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
- Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State
  - Subject-Numeric Indexed Central Files
    - AV 4 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet Civil Air Agreement
    - BG Moscow, U.S. Embassy in Moscow
    - BG 13 Moscow, protection of Moscow Embassy
    - BG 16 Moscow, security at Moscow Embassy
    - BG 16–10 Moscow, technical penetration of Moscow Embassy
    - CON 4 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet Consular Treaty
    - CUL 8 USSR, exhibits in the Soviet Union
    - DEF 9 US, U.S. military exercises and maneuvers
    - DEF 18 UN, arms control, United Nations
    - DEF 18 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet arms control
    - EDU 12–2 Kennedy, memorials for President Kennedy
    - EDX US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet educational and cultural exchanges
    - EDX 4 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet educational and cultural exchange agreements
    - FT US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet trade
    - FT 1 US–USSR, general policy and plans for U.S.-Soviet trade
    - INCO-FISH US, U.S. fishing industry
    - INCO-WHEAT USSR, Soviet wheat and grain purchases
    - LEG 7 Mansfield, visit by Senator Mansfield
    - ORG 7 S, visits by Secretary Rusk
    - OS 12 USSR, Soviet ocean shipping
    - POL US–USSR, general US-Soviet relations
    - POL 1 US–USSR, general policy and background on U.S.-Soviet relations
    - POL 7 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet visits and meetings
    - POL 15–1 US/Johnson, President Johnson’s meetings and correspondence with heads of state
    - POL 17 US–USSR, U.S. diplomatic and consular representation in the Soviet Union
    - POL 17–2 US–USSR, U.S. diplomatic immunities and privileges in the Soviet Union
    - POL 17–6 US–USSR, harassment of diplomatic and consular personnel
    - POL 32–1 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet territorial disputes and violations
    - POL 33–4 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet territorial waters issues
    - POL 33–6 US–USSR, U.S.-Soviet issues on the high seas
    - POL 1 USSR, general policy and background, Soviet Union
    - POL 7 USSR, visits and meetings, Soviet Union
    - POL 15 USSR, Soviet government
    - POL 15–1 USSR, Soviet head of state and executive branch
    - POL 17 USSR, diplomatic and consular representation in the Soviet Union
    - POL 23–6 USSR, internal security in the Soviet Union
    - POL 23–8 USSR, demonstrations, riots, and protests in the Soviet Union
    - POL 29 USSR, political prisoners, arrests, and detention in the Soviet Union
    - POL 30 USSR, defectors and expellees, Soviet Union
    - POL 17 USSR-US, Soviet diplomatic and consular representation in the United States
    - POL 17–2 USSR-US, Soviet diplomatic immunities and privileges in the United States
    - POL 17–7 USSR-US, administration of U.S. mission in the Soviet Union, including site acquisition for new chancery
    - POL 17–8 USSR-US, U.S. contacts with Communist representatives
    - POL 27 VIET S, military operations in Vietnam
    - PS 7–1 US–USSR, offenses, arrests, and detention
    - SP 8 US, exhibits concerning space and astronautics
    - UN 22–2 GA, foreign delegations to UN General Assembly
  - Lot Files
    - Bohlen Files: Lot 74 D 379
      - Files of Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen, 1942–1970
    - Conference Files: Lot 66 D 347
      - Documentation on trips taken and international conferences attended by the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials and on officials visits to the United States by heads of government and foreign ministers, 1965
    - Conference Files: Lot 67 D 586
      - Documentation on trips taken and international conferences attended by the President, the Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials, October 1966–May 1967
    - Conference Files: Lot 69 D 182
      - Documentation on trips taken and international conferences attended by the President, Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials for 1968
    - G/PM Files: Lot 69 D 258
      - Files on political-military affairs, including U.S.-Soviet military relationships, NATO, the Tripartite Talks, Germany, MRBMs, nuclear sharing, the Military Assistance Program, Japan, and Korea
    - Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163
      - Correspondence of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson with leaders of the Soviet Union, 1961–1969
    - S/AL Files: Lot 67 D 2
      - Files of Llewellyn E. Thompson, Jr., as Ambassador at Large, 1962–1966
    - Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330
      - Memoranda of conversation of the Secretary and Under Secretary of State, 1961–1964
    - S/P Files: Lot 71 D 273
      - Subject Files of the Policy Planning Council, 1960–1968
    - S/P Files: Lot 72 D 139
      - Country Files, 1965–1969, and Top Secret Files, 1963–1971, of the Policy Planning Council
    - S/S Files: Lot 70 D 217
      - White House and agency memoranda, including Presidential memoranda of conversation and memoranda to the President, 1963–1966
    - S/S Files: Lot 74 D 164
      - State Department items and reports for the President’s Evening Reading, 1964–1973; memoranda concerning Secretary-President luncheon meetings and press contacts, 1964–1969
    - S/S Files: Lot 76 D 435
      - Records of U.S.-U.S.S.R. conversations, 1961–1970
    - S/S Files: Lot 79 D 246
      - Microfilmed master chronology of international conferences attended by the President, Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials, 1953–1966
    - S/S–I Files: Lot 73 D 154
      - Memoranda of conversation for Ambassadors Llewellyn Thompson and Averell Harriman, 1965–1966, NMCC-State Representative Logs, 1965–1970, and miscellaneous material, 1969–1972
    - S/S–I Limdis/Exdis Microfilm (Eyes Only/Exclusive Distribution Telegrams, Airgrams and Dispatches)
      - Microfilm copies of State Department airgrams, telegrams, and dispatches marked eyes only, exclusive distribution, and limited distribution, 1953–1970
Nixon Presidential Materials Project
- National Security Council Files
  - Henry A. Kissinger Office Files
- Administrative and Staff Files-Transition
- Country Files, USSR
- Subject Files, National Security Study Memoranda
Central Intelligence Agency
- DCI (McCone, Helms) Files, Job 80–B01285A
  - Files of Directors of Central Intelligence John McCone and Richard Helms
- O/DDI Registry, Job 79–R01012A
  - Files of the Office of the Deputy Director for Intelligence
- DDI Files, Jobs 79–T00936A and 80S–00003A
  - Files of the Directorate of Intelligence
- DDO/IMS Files, Job 78–06423A
  - Files of the Directorate of Plans
Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
- Papers of President Lyndon B. Johnson
  - National Security File
    - Agency File
    - McGeorge Bundy Files
    - Country File, USSR
    - Country File, Addendum, USSR
    - Head of State Correspondence
    - Intelligence File
    - Robert W. Komer Files
    - Memos to the President
    - National Intelligence Estimates
    - National Security Action Memorandums
    - NSC Meetings File
    - Walt Rostow Files
  - Special Files
    - Legislative Background File
    - President’s Daily Diary
    - Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations and Meetings
Other Personal Papers
- George Ball Papers
- Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings
- Dean Rusk Appointment Books

Published Sources

Beschloss, Michael R., ed., Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963–1964. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 1964–1968.
Dobrynin, Anatoly, In Confidence: Moscow’s Ambassador to America’s Six Cold War Presidents. New York: Random House, 1995.
Johnson, Lyndon B., The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963–1969. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.
U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Documents on Disarmament, 1963–1964. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964–1965.
U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Historical Series). Volume XVI. Eighty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, 1964. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988.
U.S. Department of State, American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1964–1967. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967–1969.
———, Department of State Bulletin, 1964–1968.
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964–1968. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965–1970.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIV, Soviet Union

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series