Office of the Historian

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. When this volume was being compiled, the Department of State records consulted were still under the custody of the Department, and the footnotes citing Department of State files suggest that the Department is the repository. By the time of publication, however, all the Department’s indexed central files for these years have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (Archives II) at College Park, Maryland. Many of the Department’s decentralized office (or lot) files covering this period, which the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, are in the process of being transferred from the Department’s custody to Archives II.

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 editor made extensive use of Presidential papers and other White House records at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. The bulk of the foreign policy records at the Johnson Library are in the country files and other component parts of the National Security File. The editor also made extensive use of the Papers of George Ball and Robert Komer, two officials who were deeply involved in policy-making for the region in the first half of the Johnson administration.

Thanks to the leadership of the Johnson Library, the Department of State historians had full access to the audiotapes of President Johnson’s telephone conversations. 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 editor of this volume selected for publication five audiotapes of President Johnson’s telephone conversations dealing with [Page XVI] Cyprus. The editor prepared transcripts of all or parts of these conversations. 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. Because White House interest in the region tended to be limited to periods of crisis, the Ambassadors in the three countries played a major role in the formulation of policy. The volume includes a large selection of telegraphic correspondence between the Embassies and the Department of State. Telegrams also provide the most complete and accurate record of the two Ball missions to the region in the spring of 1964, Dean Acheson’s mediation effort on Cyprus that took place in Geneva in the summer of 1964, and the Cyrus Vance mediation of November–December 1967. Finally, U.S. reactions during recurrent crises in Cyprus and at the time of the Greek coup and the December 1967 counter coup of King Constantine are most thoroughly documented in telegraphic exchanges.

The Department’s central files contain the cable traffic recording U.S. diplomatic relations with Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey; 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. Documentation on initiatives that were not approved is often found only in desk or bureau files. The Ball Papers include summaries of telephone conversations and other useful documentation. Greek and Cyprus Desk Files include a large selection of correspondence, especially the so-called “Official Informal” letters that passed between diplomats in the field and the Department of State’s Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs (GTI), which provide critical insights into policy-making.

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.

This volume includes a number of intelligence records. Among the intelligence records reviewed for the volume were those in country and intelligence files at the Johnson Library, the files of the Directors of Central Intelligence especially John McCone, CIA intelligence reports and summaries, retired files of the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research containing National Intelligence Estimates, and the INR Historical Files.

[Page XVII]

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 many of those 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 2000.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
  • Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
  • Lot Files. These files have been transferred or will be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, Record Group 59.
  • Cyprus Desk Files: Lot 66 D 277
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Cyprus Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1964.
  • Cyprus Desk Files: Lot 67 D 412
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Cyprus Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1965.
  • Cyprus Desk Files: Lot 70 D 416
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Cyprus Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1967.
  • Cyprus Desk Files: Lot 72 D 59
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Cyprus Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1968.
  • Greek Desk Files: Lot 66 D 277
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Greek Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1964.
  • Greek Desk Files: Lot 67 D 192
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Greek Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1965.
  • Greek Desk Files: Lot 69 D 15
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Greek Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1966.
  • Greek Desk Files: Lot 69 D 553
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Greek Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1967.
  • Greek Desk Files: Lot 71 D 6
    • Records maintained by the Officer in Charge of Greek Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs for 1968.
  • INR Files
    • Files maintained by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD
  • Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State
    • Central Files
      • AID 4 GREECE, economic assistance issues
      • POL GREECE–US, political relations with Greece
      • POL TUR–US, political relations with Turkey
      • POL 1 GREECE, general policy relating to Greece.
      • POL 2 GREECE, general information on Greece
      • POL 2–1 GREECE, weekly activities reports on Greece
      • POL 7 GREECE, visits by Greek officials
      • POL 7 US–VANCE, Cyprus peacekeeping mediation
      • POL 12–6 GREECE, internal political affairs
      • POL 14 GREECE, internal political affairs
      • POL 15–1 GREECE, internal political affairs
      • POL 23–9 GREECE, coups and civil disturbances
      • POL 23–8 CYPRUS, civil disturbances
      • POL 27 CYPRUS, unrest and civil disturbances
      • POL 27–14, CYPRUS–UN, UN peacekeeping activities
      • DEF TUR, defense arrangements
      • DEF 15 CYP, defense arrangements
    • Lot Files
      • Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272
        • Records of Under Secretary of State George Ball, 1961–1966.
      • Conference Files: Lot 66 D 110
        • Collection of documentation on international conferences abroad attended by the President, Secretary of State, or other U.S. officials, May 1961–December 1964.
      • Conference Files: Lot 66 D 347
        • Collection of documentation on international conferences abroad attended by the President, Secretary of State, or other U.S. officials for 1965.
      • Conference Files: Lot 67 D 586
        • Collection of documentation on international conferences abroad attended by the President, Secretary of State, or other U.S. officials, September 1966–April 1967.
      • Conference Files: Lot 68 D 453
        • Collection of documentation on international conferences abroad attended by the President, Secretary of State, or other U.S. officials, May 1967–January 1968.
      • Conference Files: Lot 69 D 182
        • Collection of documentation on international conferences abroad attended by the President, Secretary of State, or other U.S. officials for 1968.
      • 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.
      • S/S-NSC Files: Lot 70 D 265
        • Master set of papers pertaining to 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 Memorandums (NSAMs), 1961–1968.
      • S/S-NSC Files: Lot 72 D 318
        • Cabinet and National Security Council records, 1966–1968.
  • Record Group 84, Records of Diplomatic and Consular Posts
    • Athens Post Files: Lot 71 A 2420
      • Records of the Embassy in Athens, 1964–1966.
    • Athens Post Files: Lot 72 A 5030
      • Records of the Embassy in Athens, 1967–1968.
    • Central Intelligence Agency
      • DCI Files: Job 80–B01676R
      • DCI Files: Job 80–B01285A
      • CIA Executive Registry, Intelligence Information Cables
  • Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
  • Papers of Lyndon B. Johnson
    • National Security File
      • Country File
      • Files of Robert W. Komer
      • NSC Meetings File
      • Memos to the President
      • Files of McGeorge Bundy
    • Special Files
      • Meeting Notes Files
      • President’s Office File
      • Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations and Meetings
      • Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings
  • Other Personal Papers
    • Ball Papers

Published Sources

  • Ball, George W. The Past Has Another Pattern. New York: Norton, 1982.
  • Papandreou, Andreas. Democracy at Gunpoint: The Greek Front. New York: Doubleday, 1970.
  • C. L. Sulzberger, Age of Mediocrity: Memoirs and Diaries, 1963–1972. New York, Macmillan, 1973.
  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1964–1968. 4 volumes. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
  • U.S. Department of State, Department of State Bulletin. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
    • ————. American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959–1964. Annual volumes. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.