26. Editorial Note
At the invitation of Nelson A. Rockefeller, a group of 11 experts in Soviet-American relations met in Quantico, Virginia, June 5–10, to explore methods for exploiting Communist bloc vulnerabilities. The group, known as the Quantico Panel, consisted of the following members: Dr. Frederick Dunn, Director of the Center of International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; C. D. Jackson of Time–Life; Drs. Ellis A. Johnson, Paul Linebarger, and George Pettee of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Max Millikan of the Center of International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Philip Mosely, Director of the Russian Institute, Columbia University; Dr. Stefan Possoniy of the Department of the Air Force; Dr. Hans Speier of the Rand Corporation; Dr. Charles A. H. Thomson of the Brookings Institution; and W.W. Rostow of the Center of International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was designated the panel chairman.
The Quantico Panel Report was submitted to Rockefeller under cover of a memorandum of June 10 from Rostow. The report consisted of five chapters and four appendices, plus ten papers prepared by individual panel members. In his covering memorandum, Rostow wrote that the one impression that stood out in his mind was “the unanimous belief of the Panel members that the U.S. now enjoys a significant but transitory period of over-all strength vis-à-vis the Soviet bloc.” He noted further that the “next two or three years afford the United States the opportunity to negotiate from a strong position for genuine concessions by the enemy without sacrifice of essential positions of strength” and that this kind of negotiation, “along with a vigorous and urgent development of potential Free World strength, could create the conditions for victory in the cold war.” Rostow’s covering memorandum and a summary of the recommendations by the panel are printed in volume V, page 216.