236. Telegram From the Embassy in the Soviet Union to the Department of State0
616. For President and Secretary from Udall. Policy. Met with Khrushchev yesterday at Pitsunda for two hours followed by lunch and informal conversation.1 First hour was very profitable discussion of electric power and resource development problems.
Khrushchev then introduced West Berlin and other foreign policy issues. As expected, he reasserted his hard line and indicated the Peace Treaty will be signed. He stated flatly he would not allow Western troops remain Berlin and while permitting access for civilian traffic would not allow access for military purposes. However, he did make one significant suggestion which Chargé dʼAffaires feels I should convey to you in person.
Khrushchev expressed his satisfaction with our handling of his U-2 flight protest.2 He seemed even willing to give us the benefit of the doubt and concede such things might even happen accidentally. Obviously your pledge has considerable significance in his thinking.
Stated he had been reading statements of Senators who wanted US to invade Cuba and denounced them in strong terms but is fully aware of position which you have taken and expressed approval of it.
He also expressed strong satisfaction with solution reached in Laos.
As per your counsel, I listened and advanced established positions which our government has taken on issues discussed.
On two occasions, Khrushchev indicated his desire to have you and Mrs. Kennedy as guests at this resort. Of course, he did not express this as an invitation but by implication something which he was most anxious to accomplish and at the appropriate time.
[Page 499]Expect to be in my office on Monday morning and will be available for conference with you and/or Secretary Rusk.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 033.1100-UD/9-762. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution.↩
- A transcript of the conversation, drafted by Udall and his interpreter, is ibid., Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. An extract on Germany and Berlin is printed in Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. XV, pp. 308–310.↩
- On September 4 McSweeney had been called to the Foreign Ministry to receive a note protesting a U-2 violation of Soviet air space East of Sakhalin. In its reply, transmitted to the Embassy in Moscow the same day, the United States allowed that a U.S. Air Force plane, which had encountered severe winds in that area, might have overflown Sakhalin. The note stressed that, if the plane had violated Soviet air space, it was unintentional and that the policy enunciated by the President on January 25, 1961, onU-2 flights had not changed. The texts of the two notes and McSweeneyʼs account of the meeting at the Foreign Ministry are in Department of State, Central Files, 761.5411/9-462. The notes are also printed in Department of State Bulletin, September 24, 1962, pp. 449-450.↩