83. Memorandum of Discussion at the 342d Meeting of the National Security Council, Washington, October 31, 19571
[Here follow a paragraph listing the participants at the meeting and item 1, “CIA Annual Report”.]
2. Significant World Developments Affecting U.S. Security
The Director of Central Intelligence sketched the background and developments preceding the replacement of Marshal Zhukov as Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union. Just before his journey to Yugoslavia, Zhukov had seen Khrushchev in the Crimea, and apparently all had gone smoothly at this meeting. Zhukov was nine days in Yugoslavia and eight days in Albania. These facts raised certain questions. If there is as much danger of war as Khrushchev has lately been implying, why was Zhukov permitted to be away from Moscow for a period of three weeks? Were plots against Zhukov being hatched during this time? Was Marshal Rokossovsky sent to a provincial military command in order to get him out of Moscow when Zhukov was removed from his job?
Apparently when Zhukov returned to Moscow on October 26, he had no expectation that anything would happen to him. He immediately went into a series of meetings the outcome of which is even yet not known. Then came Khrushchev’s announcement of Zhukov’s relief from the Defense Ministry.
A meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party has evidently been going on for several days. We do not know what has occurred in this meeting. Perhaps Khrushchev may originally have offered Zhukov some other high-level job, but one remote from the Army, where Khrushchev feared the power of Zhukov. Apparently Zhukov did not react calmly to this proposal. What has actually happened to him physically since that time, we again do not know.
Undoubtedly Khrushchev would have preferred to settle this matter quietly and without fuss. It appears that Zhukov’s dismissal has been instrumental in causing Marshal Tito to decline to go to Moscow for the November 7 celebrations. Meanwhile, the press of the Soviet Union is emphasizing the superiority of the Communist Party over the Army. Zhukov may not have sufficiently realized this point, so that Khrushchev felt the time had come to put the military in its place of subordination. In any event, Zhukov has been an outspoken advocate of the right of military commanders to control [Page 178] their troops, and to this end has reduced the power of the political commissars in the Soviet armed forces.
We have been hearing that Zhukov is to get another job, but the censorship has been stricter than ever in recent hours, and we do not know anything further about this job. It would seem, however, that the last die has not been cast. Will the Soviet Army take Zhukov’s dismissal lying down? It is too early to predict an answer to this question. We may get the decision today as to what Khrushchev will finally do. In the meantime, it is unwise to make further prophecies.
The National Security Council:
Noted an oral briefing by the Director of Central Intelligence on the subject, with specific reference to Marshal Zhukov.
[Here follow items 3. “A Federal Shelter Program for Civil Defense”, 4. “U.S. Security Effort Overseas, FY 1957”, and 5. “U.S. Policy Toward Spain.”]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records. Top Secret; Eyes Only. Prepared by Gleason on November 1.↩