61. Editorial Note

During the morning of December 21, representatives from the three Western Embassies in Moscow presented to Foreign Minister Gromyko letters inviting Chairman Khrushchev to a summit meeting beginning April 27, 1960. The text of the note and instructions to the embassies were transmitted to Moscow in Sectos 39 and 40, December 20. (Department of State, Central Files, 396.1-PA/12–2059)

On December 25, Khrushchev replied that this date was inconvenient and suggested either April 21 or May 4. A further exchange of letters on December 29 and 30 achieved agreement for the summit meeting to begin at Paris on May 16. For the texts of the four notes, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pages 947 and 949–950, or Dokumente, Band 3, 1959, pages 805–806, 812, and 831–832.