492. Telegram From Secretary of State Herter to the Department of State0
Cahto 182. For the President from the Secretary.
“Dear Mr. President:
The full report of my conversation with Gromyko today1 is going forward to the Department tonight. After my reporting on the progress made to the Western Foreign Ministers2 they felt that it might be possible to reach an agreement by next Wednesday. The two points on which they based their optimism were: first, Gromyko’s evident willingness to conclude negotiations by the time of my departure here and second, his indication we would drop the All-German Committee link with an interim settlement of West Berlin provided we made some concession on the total troop numbers. We all agreed it would be foolhardy to make such a concession. In advance of clear-cut agreement on other points since it has now become obvious that this is a matter on which he sets more store than any other as being a symbol of our willingness to recognize the abnormal situation in Berlin as well as our willingness to continue talking with the Russians about it.
I am not as optimistic as my colleagues are but feel there is an outside chance of our making some simple deal involving three principal points: (1) some troop reduction; (2) access to Berlin as at present for both military and civilian personnel; (3) duration of agreement with rights protected when negotiations resumed for something between three and five years.
Gromyko knows of Khrushchev invitation and advised me [he] considers matter of Khrushchev visit to US and your return visit a settled matter. I cannot emphasize too strongly my feeling desirability release some statement this matter before end of our conference so that the two will not necessarily be directly related in public mind.
Faithfully,
Signed: Chris”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 110.11–HE/7–2959. Top Secret; Niact; No Distribution.↩
- See Document 491.↩
- See the last paragraph of Document 491.↩