257. Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson) to Secretary of State Rusk0
SUBJECT
- Cuba New York Negotiations
McCloy called me this morning to state that after dinner yesterday1 Kuznetsov took the initiative in raising the question of the negotiations for the report to the UN on the Cuban affair. McCloy said that during the course of the conversation Kuznetsov said that Khrushchev himself placed great emphasis on inclusion of his October 27 Turkish Jupiter letter, explaining that he needed this domestically as he had used his position on this in defense of his action in Cuba. Kuznetsov also reiterated their objections to the inclusion of the President’s November 20 press conference. Kuznetsov urged McCloy to come up with some new formula.
[Page 641]McCloy said he made it clear that he was at the “end of his string” and had no further suggestions to offer. He said he also made it clear that we could not agree to any of the proposed Soviet procedures. McCloy felt that Kuznetsov was “squirming”.
McCloy said that he did not recommend or propose to take any new initiatives and would wait for Kuznetsov to get in touch with him. I said that we entirely agreed.