Office of the Historian

Sources

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.

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 foreign officials and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All the Department’s indexed central files for 1960–1968 have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). The Department’s decentralized office (or lot) files covering this period that the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, have been 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.

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, Volume XXIII, Congo, 1960–1968

This retrospective volume on the Congo, 1960–1968, is a documentary history of U.S. relations with Congo-Léopoldville, including U.S. involvement in the Congo Crisis. As such, the first part of this volume relies heavily on CIA documents. Much of the documentation is in Jobs 78–00435R and 79–00149A, which contain cables between CIA [Page XII] headquarters and the Station in Léopoldville. They also contain field reports and analytical papers. Job 81–00966R contains an extensive collection of papers and memoranda prepared for the Special Group and the 303 Committee. In some instances, names of files and collections have not been declassified. Special Group and 303 Committee meeting minutes and summaries are available in several collections in the National Security Council Intelligence Files, specifically: Special Group Meeting Minutes, Special Group Minutes and Agenda, Special Group Minutes and Approvals and 303 Committee Files Minutes. These collections contain documentation of the deliberations of the high-level interdepartmental groups set up to approve and supervise covert operations. Finally, the Church Committee’s Interim Report provides extensive testimony on the plot to assassinate Patrice Lumumba.

The records of the Department of State are crucial to understanding the evolution of U.S. policy towards Congo-Léopoldville in the aftermath of the Congo Crisis. The Department’s central files contain the cable traffic recording U.S. diplomatic relations with the Congolese Government and other nations, memoranda of diplomatic conversations, as well as action and information memoranda. The richest collection of cable traffic for 1964–1968 is in POL 23–9 The Congo, which also contains extensive documentation on Operation Dragon Rouge. Defense records in the central files provide documentation on U.S. efforts to train the Congolese National Army and to provide planes and equipment for their use.

The Johnson Library, National Security File, Country Files, Congo, contains interagency memoranda and telegrams regarding ongoing instability in the Congo after 1963, including the hostage situation in Stanleyville which resulted in Operation Dragon Rouge. The file also contains documentation regarding efforts to convince the Organization of African Unity and Belgium to support the Tshombe government and denounce outside interference in the provinces by mercenaries, neighboring states and others.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
    • Lot Files. See also National Archives and Records Administration below.
    • INR/IL Historical Files:
      • Files of the Office of Intelligence Coordination, containing records from the 1940s through the 1970s, maintained by the Office of Intelligence Liaison, Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
    • S/S Files: Lot 68 D 451
      • Minutes of meetings and memoranda of the Special Group, Counterinsurgency, for July-December 1964, maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State
      • Decimal Central Files. Through January 1963, the Department of State continued to use the decimal central file system familiar to users of previous volumes of the Foreign Relations series. The following file was most useful in compiling this volume for the period through January 1963:
        • 770G.00, political affairs and conditions in the Congo (the major file for the Congo crisis)
      • Subject-Numeric Indexed Central Files. In February 1963, the Department of State adopted a subject-numeric central file system. Under this system, files on the Republic of the Congo (now Zaire) were designated THE CONGO, and files on the Congo Republic (capital at Brazzaville) were designated CONGO.
        • DEF 1–1 THE CONGO, contingency planning
        • DEF 6–5 THE CONGO, paramilitary forces, The Congo
        • DEF 9–7 THE CONGO, service in foreign armed forces, The Congo
        • DEF 12 THE CONGO, armaments, The Congo
        • DEF 19 US–THE CONGO, military assistance, U.S.-The Congo
        • DEF 19–3 US–THE CONGO, defense organizations and conferences, U.S.-The Congo
        • DEF 19–8 US–THE CONGO, defense equipment and supplies, U.S.-The Congo
        • POL BEL–THE CONGO, political affairs and relations, Belgium-The Congo
        • POL THE CONGO–US, political affairs and relations, The Congo-U.S.
        • POL 1 THE CONGO–US, political affairs, general policy, The Congo-U.S.
        • POL 3 OAU, regional alignments and groupings, Organization of African Unity
        • POL 6 THE CONGO, biographic data, The Congo
        • POL 7 BEL, visits and meetings with Belgian officials
        • POL 7 RWANDA, visits and meetings with Rwandan officials
        • POL 7 THE CONGO, visits and meetings with Congolese officials
        • POL 7 US/HARRIMAN, visits and meetings with W. Averell Harriman
        • POL 7 US/HUMPHREY, visits and meetings with Vice President Humphrey
        • POL 9 EURW–TANZAN, intervention, Western Europe-Tanzania
        • POL 15–1 THE CONGO, Congolese Head of State, Executive Branch
        • POL 23–9 THE CONGO, rebellions and coups, The Congo
        • POL 30 THE CONGO, defectors and expellees, The Congo
        • POL 31–1 THE CONGO, air disputes and violations, The Congo
        • POL 31–1 THE CONGO–UGANDA, air disputes and violations, The Congo-Uganda
        • PS 7–6 THE CONGO, protective services, welfare and whereabouts, The Congo
        • SOC 3 Red Cross, organizations and conferences
      • Lot Files
        • AF/CM Files: Lot 67 D 63
          • Files on Congo (Kinshasa), including administrative, economic, political-defense, social, health, and science for 1964, as maintained by the Office of the Country Director for Central Africa, Malagasy, and Mauritius, Bureau of African Affairs
        • AF/CWG Files: Lot 65 D 498
          • Stanleyville POL 23–9 files (rebellions, coups) for 1964, as maintained by the Office of the Congo Working Group, Bureau of African Affairs
        • AF Files: Lot 69 D 118
          • Congo (Kinshasa) desk officer’s subject files, including administrative, consular, cultural information, economic, defense affairs, intelligence, political affairs, science, refugees and migration for 1966, as maintained by the Office of the Country Director for Central Africa, Malagasy, and Mauritius, Bureau of African Affairs
        • S/S Files: Lot 72 D 192
          • Files of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 1961–1969, including texts of speeches, miscellaneous correspondence files, White House correspondence, chronological files and memoranda of telephone conversations
  • Central Intelligence Agency, Langley, Virginia
    • Job 64–00352R
    • Job 76–00366R
    • Job 78–00435R
    • Job 78–00801R
    • Job 78–01450R
    • Job 78–02520R
    • Job 78–02888R
    • Job 78–03805R
    • Job 79–00149A
    • Job 81–00966R
    • Job 82–00450R
    • Job 89–00195R
    • Job 89–00639R
    • Job 90–01073R
    • Job 79R00890A
    • Job 79R01012A
    • Job 80B01285A
    • Job 80B00910A
    • Job 80B01285A
    • Job 86B00975R
  • National Security Council
    • Intelligence Files
      • NSC 541212 Special Group Minutes/Agendas
      • Special Group, Minutes and Agendas, Congo
      • Special Group, Minutes and Approvals
      • Special Group Meeting Minutes
      • 303 Committee Files, Minutes
  • Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
    • Harriman Papers
    • Special files of W. Averell Harriman, Public Service, Kennedy and Johnson administrations
  • Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
    • Record Group 218, Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • 9111
    • Record Group 330, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense
      • OASD/ISA Files: FRC 68 A 4023
        • Top Secret files of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1964
      • OSD Files: FRC 69 A 7425
        • Top Secret files of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Special Assistant, 1964
      • OSD Files: FRC 71 A 6489
        • Miscellaneous files and records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and their assistants, 1951–1966
      • OSD Files: FRC 72 A 2467
        • Top Secret files of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Special Assistant, 1967
      • OSD Files: 72 A 2468
        • Official records of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Special Assistant, 1967
  • Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
    • Papers of Lyndon B. Johnson
    • National Security File
      • Country File, Congo
      • Files of McGeorge Bundy
      • Files of Edward Hamilton, Congo
      • Intelligence Files, Special Group, Minutes & Agendas
      • Memos to the President, McGeorge Bundy, Walt W. Rostow
      • Name File, Komer Memos
      • National Security Council Histories, Congo C–130 Crisis, July 1967
    • Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations and Meetings
    • White House Central Files
      • Confidential File, CO 52
  • Other Personal Papers
    • Papers of George Ball
    • Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings

Published Sources

  • U.S. Congress. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report. Senate Report No. 94-9465, 94th Congress, 1st Session. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975.
  • U.S. Department of State. American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.