123. Editorial Note
On October 6, 1961, President Kennedy met with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko for 2 hours at the White House. The latter stated, among other things, that if the United States would not agree to a peace treaty resolving the larger German issues, i.e., borders and nuclear weapons, the USSR would be willing to sign an agreement on Berlin alone. However, in that case the United States would have to agree to resolve the larger issues separately. The President again expressed the U.S. view that Soviet proposals to change the status quo in Berlin did so at the expense of U.S. interests. For text of the memorandum of conversation, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume XIV, pages 468–480.