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  4. Document 372

372. Memorandum From Gordon Chase of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)0

Washington, October 21, 1963.

SUBJECT

  • Accommodation with Castro

As you requested, I spoke to Ambassador Attwood in New York about the attached.1 He gave the following information. (The conversation was necessarily vague and we didn’t go into much detail.)

1.
Adlai Stevenson had received approval for the approach.
2.
Ambassador Attwood spoke to Lechuga. Lechuga expressed interest (he is a soft-liner) and suggested that someone from our side should go down to Cuba to talk with Castro. Attwood replied that the UN wasa more appropriate talking place. Lechuga said he would convey the message to Havana.
3.
Attwood concluded that the ball is in Cuban hands and the door is ajar. However, he is not hopeful. While Lechuga and Castro, himself, might be interested, he feels that Castro is too well boxed in by such hard-liners as Guevara to be able to maneuver much.
GC
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Cuba, Contact with Cuban Leaders, 5/63-4/65. Top Secret; Eyes Only.↩
  2. Apparent reference to Document 367.↩