152. Editorial Note

At 12:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. in Washington) on February 2 a U.S. military convoy of four trucks from Berlin was detained at the Marienborn checkpoint by Soviet officials for refusing to submit to inspection. Protests to the Soviet Commandant’s office at Karlshorst and to the Soviet Military Mission at Frankfort failed to elicit any positive response. On the evening of February 3 the Department of State transmitted [Page 311] to the Embassy in Moscow a note protesting the “unwarranted and inadmissible” detention of the convoy. (Telegram 1182; Department of State, Central Files, 762.0221/2–359) Since the convoy had not been released by the following day, the note was delivered to the Foreign Ministry at 4:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. in Washington). At the time that the note was delivered President Eisenhower, who had been kept advised of the situation, reviewed the U.S. position on convoy inspection at a press conference. For text of the protest note and the President’s statement, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pages 609–611.

Markushin finally agreed to meet U.S. Political Adviser Burns at Marienborn at 4:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. in Washington) on February 4 to discuss a resolution of the problem. During a 2-1/2-hour meeting Markushin agreed to release the convoy, but only as a personal favor to Burns. The Mission at Berlin transmitted a summary report of the meeting in telegram 667, February 5. (Department of State, Central Files, 762.0221/2–559) Additional documentation on this incident is ibid., 762.00 and 762.0221.