September–December 1959: Visit to the United States of Nikita S. Khrushchev
138. Letter From Foreign Minister Gromyko to Vice President Nixon
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 261.1111/11–1759. Confidential. Transmitted as an enclosure to despatch 258 from Moscow, November 17. A notation on the despatch indicates that the original and the Embassy’s translation of this letter were sent to Nixon’s office on December 4. In telegram 1438 from Moscow, November 17, which also transmitted the text of this letter, Thompson reported that when Gromyko handed him the letter that morning, he also referred to Secretary Herter’s recent letter to Gromyko with two accompanying lists of American citizens and relatives of American citizens who desired to leave the Soviet Union. Thompson said that virtually all the people named on the two lists had applied for Soviet exit visas, but Gromyko said that in the past U.S. information was often incorrect and that the required applications to the Soviet militia had not been made. (Ibid., 261.1111/11–1759) Herter’s letter to Gromyko and the two lists have not been found, but the letter was summarized briefly in telegram 1377 from Moscow, November 11. (Ibid., 261.1111/11–1159)
139. Letter From Foreign Minister Gromyko to Secretary of State Herter
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 261.1111/12–2159. Confidential. The source text is labeled “Informal Translation.” A memorandum from Service to Calhoun, December 21, attached to the source text, indicates that Soviet Counselor Smirnovsky handed this letter to Richard H. Davis on December 21.
- If the letter was actually delivered on December 21, the date of the letter is in error.↩