539. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the President and His Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Gray), White House, Washington, June 29, 1960, 9:30 a.m.1

[Here follows discussion of matters unrelated to Cuba.]

2. I then described to the President the Special NSC meeting on Cuba2 which had preceded the regular meeting.

I informed him then that as a result of the special meeting the Secretary of State had convened a meeting in his office in the afternoon on June 273 to pursue the question of economic pressures against Cuba. I told the President that I had put together a set of questions to serve as a framework of discussion (attached hereto).4 The President read them with care and then observed that one question which he was very much interested in which did not appear in the list was whether we in dealing with the whole situation should make any connection with Trujillo and Castro.

I informed the President that we were moving toward the necessary decisions as to whether we would take all-out economic measures but that the Secretary of State wished to consult the Inter-American Advisory Committee in its meeting here next week before finalizing his program.

The President then observed that he did not believe that Khrushchev would enter into a mutual security treaty with Castro. I reported to him that the meeting on June 27 had reflected sharply divergent views on this question which had been raised and persisted in by the Secretary of the Treasury. However, Mr. Bohlen, among others, shared the President’s view.

The President said that he did not quite remember the details of the meeting of March 14 [17].5 I reminded him of the program which [Page 971] had been presented by the DCI and approved by the President. I then reported to the President the current thinking as to the timetable of various events.

[Here follows discussion of matters unrelated to Cuba.]

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Project “Clean Up” Records, Meetings with the President. Top Secret. Drafted by Gray on July 6.
  2. See Document 532.
  3. See Document 536.
  4. Printed as an attachment to Document 536.
  5. See Document 486.