141. Editorial Note
Secretary of State Herter opened a news conference on July 21 by reading a statement on the situation in the Congo. He charged that Soviet threats of intervention in the Congo were “recklessly irresponsible” and declared that the United States would “continue to back with all its moral force and material resources the action of the United Nations to restore peace and order.” The text of the statement is printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pages 536–537.
The Secretary then read a statement replying to a Soviet statement of July 19 protesting the presence of 20 U.S. military personnel in Léopoldville. He stated that the U.S. personnel were not part of the U.N. force in the Congo but were engaged, with U.N. approval, in assisting with the airlift of U.N. supplies, food, troops, and equipment and that they would remain in Léopoldville only as long as U.S. assistance in the airlift was required. The Soviet statement had been made on July 19 in Moscow by Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko to Chargé Edward L. Freers. The U.S. statement was made formally on July 21 by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Richard H. Davis to Soviet Chargé Mikhail N. Smirnovsky. The texts of both are ibid., pages 531 and 537–538, respectively. For the complete transcript of the Secretary’s new conference, see Department of State Bulletin, August 8, 1960, pages 205–209.