Office of the Historian

184. Telegram From the Delegation at the Summit Conference to the Department of State0

Paris, May 18, 1960, 8 p.m.

Secto 38. According to French official source Khrushchev farewell call on De Gaulle, accompanied by Malinovsky and Gromyko, lasted 45 minutes.1 Tone was calm and courteous. De Gaulle raised no matters of substance. Khrushchev reiterated position on non-attendance Summit with harsh criticism of President Eisenhower in relation to airplane incident which made Summit impossible and set back policies Khrushchev had been working on. Particularly regretted Summit breakdown as regards disarmament since he had been prepared present many “constructive” proposals which would now be submitted to 10-nation group at Geneva. No mention was made of Berlin.

Herter
  1. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1666. Confidential. Drafted by McSweeney and authorized by Kohler. Repeated to London, Moscow, and Bonn.↩
  2. A memorandum of Bohlen’s conversation with de Courcel (US/MC/19), from which this summary was made, is ibid., CF 1664. Khrushchev made the call during the morning of May 18.↩