205. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to Foreign Minister Gromyko0
Dear Mr. Gromyko: Upon return from a ten-day absence in Europe, I find that it is now generally known that Ambassador Thompson will be leaving Moscow this summer. The inevitable result will be increasing speculation about his successor. Our Embassy will [Page 447] shortly request an agrement for Mr. Foy D. Kohler and I should greatly appreciate your assistance in a prompt response in order that the President may end press speculation through an early announcement.
Mr. Kohler is well known to high officials of your Government and we are pleased that he will be available for this assignment. A distinguished career officer familiar with the Soviet Union and the Russian language, he has worked on the most intimate terms with President Kennedy and me since we assumed office and knows our thinking thoroughly. I need not add that he brings with him the same full confidence of the President which Ambassador Thompson has enjoyed.
I hope that the forthcoming conference in Laos will be able to move promptly to a mutually satisfactory conclusion and that we can meet soon in Geneva to sign an agreement which will mark an important step in our relations.1
With personal good wishes,
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Department of State, Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192, Chron. Confidential. Drafted by Rusk. The source text is attached to a brief message from Rusk to Dobrynin asking him to transmit it to Gromyko. On June 30 the Department of State sent a similar message to the Embassy in Moscow asking for agrement on Kohler and requesting no publicity until the White House had made an announcement on the appointment. (Telegram 2990; ibid., Central Files, 123 Kohler, Foy D.)↩
- On July 4 the Embassy in Moscow reported that the Soviet Government agreed to the appointment of Kohler. (Telegram 19 from Moscow; ibid.)↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩