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Sources

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files (“lot files”) of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Departmentʼs Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. When this volume was being compiled, all Department of State records consulted were still under the custody of the Department, and the footnotes citing Department of State files suggest that the Department is the repository. By the time of publication, however, all the Departmentʼs indexed central (or decimal) files for these years were permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (Archives II) at College Park, Maryland. Many of the Departmentʼs decentralized office (or lot) files covering this period, which the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, will also be transferred from the Departmentʼs custody to Archives II over the next several years.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have had full access to the papers of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Eisenhower and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from other federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Department of State historians also have access to records of the Department of Defense, particularly the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretaries of Defense and their major assistants.

The Central Intelligence Agency provides access to Department of State historians to those records in the custody of that Agency and at the Presidential Libraries. Access to records still retained by the Central Intelligence Agency is defined by a May 1992 memorandum of understanding and subsequent understandings with the CIA History Staff, whose members provide assistance and guidance to State Department historians in their Foreign Relations research. Special thanks are due to Donald Steury of the History Staff for his assistance in providing access in connection with this volume.

All of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of these agencies, the assistance [Page XVI] of their staffs, and especially the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.

The following list identifies the particular files and collections used in the preparation of this volume. The declassification and transfer to the National Archives of these records is in process. Many of the records are already available for public review at the National Archives. The declassification review of other records is going forward in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order 12958, under which all records over 25 years old should be reviewed for declassification by 2000, except for file series exemptions requested by agencies and approved by the President.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Indexed Central Files: Up to January 1963 the Department of State used a central indexed decimal file system for a large part of its records. For this volume the most important decimal files were:
      • 411.61: U.S. economic relations with the Soviet Union
      • 511.613: documentation relating to the exchange program with the Soviet Union
      • 610.6111: representational questions affecting the two countries
      • 611.61: general U.S.-Soviet relations
      • 761.00: political reporting on the Soviet Union
    • In February 1963 the Department of State changed to a subject-numeric central file system, which divided records into broad categories within which there were subject and country breakdowns. The most important of these files for this volume were:
      • CON US-USSR: consular questions affecting the two countries
      • INCO WHEAT US-USSR: sale of wheat and grains to the Soviet Union
      • ORG 7: files relating to the trips of the Secretary of State
      • POL US-USSR: general U.S.-Soviet relations
      • POLUSSR: political reporting on the Soviet Union
    • Additional central files used in the preparation of the volume are indicated in the annotation to the documents.
    • Lot Files: Documents from the central files have been supplemented by materials from decentralized office files, the lot files of the Department of State. A list of the major lot files used or consulted for this volume follows:
      • Bruce Diaries: Lot 64 D 327
        • Diaries of Ambassador David K.E. Bruce, 1948-1974.
      • Conference Files: Lot 65 D 533
        • Documentation on official visits to the United States by heads of state and foreign ministers and on international conferences attended by the President, Secretary of State, and Under Secretary of State, 1961, maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
      • Conference Files: Lot 66 D 110
        • Documentation on international conferences attended by the President, the Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials and visits to the United States by senior foreign officials, 1961-1964.
      • INR-NIE Files
        • Files retained by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research containing copies of National Intelligence Estimates and Special National Intelligence Estimates for 1961-1963.
      • Katzenbach Files: Lot 74 D 271
        • Files of Under Secretary of State Katzenbach, 1966-1969.
      • Kohler Files: Lot 71 D 460
        • Files of Ambassador Foy D. Kohler, 1962-1968.
      • Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204
        • Correspondence of the President and Secretary of State with their counterparts in the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and the Federal Republic of Germany, 1953-1964.
      • Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 294
        • Correspondence of the President with foreign officials, 1961-1966.
      • Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163
        • Correspondence of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson with the leaders of the Soviet Union, 1961-1964, the so-called Pen Pal correspondence. This lot also contains drafts of messages and memoranda to the President and Secretary of State about the correspondence.
      • Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192
        • Files of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 1961-1969, including texts of speeches and public statements, miscellaneous correspondence, White House correspondence, chronological files, and memoranda of telephone conversations.
      • Secretaryʼs Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330
        • Memoranda of the Secretary of State and Under Secretaries of State, 1961-1964.
      • Secretaryʼs Staff Meetings: Lot 66 D 147
        • Records of the Secretary of Stateʼs Staff meetings, 1961-1963, and additional ad hoc meetings, reports, papers, and the memoranda of Chester Bowlesʼ telephone conversations for 1961.
      • S/AL Files: Lot 67 D 2
        • Memoranda to the President and Secretary of State, memoranda of conversation, papers, and related documents of Ambassador Llewellyn E. Thompson, 1962-1966.
      • S/P Files: Lot 67 D 548
        • Subject files, country files, chronological files, documents, drafts, and related correspondence of the Policy Planning Staff, 1957-1961.
      • S/P Files: Lot 69 D 121
        • Subject files, country files, chronological files, documents, drafts, and related correspondence of the Policy Planning Council, 1962.
      • S/P Files: Lot 70 D 199
        • Subject files, country files, chronological files, documents, drafts, and related correspondence of the Policy Planning Council, 1963-1964.
      • S/S Microfilm Files
        • Collection of incoming and outgoing telegrams with restricted distribution, 1953 ff.
      • S/S-NSC Files: Lot 72 D 316
        • Master file of National Security Action Memoranda (NSAMs), 1961-1968.
  • Central Intelligence Agency, Langley, Virginia
    • Current Intelligence Weekly Review, Job 79-S01060A
    • DCI (McCone) Files, Job 80-B01285A
    • O/DDI Registry, Job 79-R01012A
  • Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
    • Harriman Papers
    • Seaborg Papers
  • National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
    • Moscow Embassy Files: FRC 84-67A1450
      • Classified files of the Embassy at Moscow, 1955-1964.
    • Moscow Embassy Files: FRC 84-63A782
      • Classified files of the Embassy at Moscow, 1961.
    • Moscow Embassy Files: FRC 84-64A875
      • Classified files of the Embassy at Moscow, 1962.
    • Moscow Embassy Files: FRC 84-65A1076
      • Classified files of the Embassy at Moscow, 1963.
  • National Defense University, Washington, D.C.
    • Lemnitzer Papers
  • John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
    • National Security Files:
      • Countries Series, USSR
      • Departments and Agencies Series
      • Meetings and Memoranda Series
      • Trip and Conference Series
    • Presidentʼs Appointment Books
    • Presidentʼs Office Files
    • Papers of George Ball
    • Papers of Pierre Salinger
    • Papers of Theodore Sorensen
  • Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
    • National Security File:
      • Bundy Files
      • Country File: USSR
      • National Intelligence Estimates
    • Rusk Appointment Books
  • Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
    • Adlai E. Stevenson Papers
  • Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut
    • Chester B. Bowles Papers

Published Sources

Note: The Department of State takes no responsibility for the accuracy of these publications nor does it endorse their interpretations.

  • Beschloss, Michael R. The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960-1963. New York: Edward Burlingame Books, 1991.
  • Bohlen, Charles E. Witness to History, 1929-1969. New York: W.W. Norton, 1973.
  • Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 1960-1963.
  • Claflin, Edward B., ed. JFK Wants To Know: Memos from the Presidentʼs Office, 1961-1963. New York: Morrow, 1991.
  • Cousins, Norman. The Improbable Triumvirate: John F. Kennedy, Pope John, Nikita Khrushchev. New York: W.W. Norton, 1972.
  • The Declassified Documents Quarterly Catalog and Microfiche. Woodbridge, Connecticut: Research Publications (formerly Washington: Carrollton Press), 1975 ff.
  • Dobrynin, Anatoly, In Confidence: Moscowʼs Ambassador to Americaʼs Six Cold War Presidents. New York: Random House, 1995.
  • Donovan, James B. Strangers on a Bridge: The Case of Colonel Abel. New York: Atheneum, 1964.
  • Gromyko, Andrei. Memoirs. New York: Doubleday, 1989.
  • Hammer, Armand, with Neil Lyndon. Hammer. New York: Putnam, 1987.
  • Khrushchev, Nikita S. Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament. Translated and edited by Strobe Talbott. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.
  • Major Addresses, Statements, and Press Conferences of General Charles de Gaulle, May 19, 1958-January 31, 1964. New York: French Embassy, Press and Information Division, 1964.
  • Meissner, Boris, ed. Moskau Bonn, Die Beziehungen zwischen der Sowjetunion und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1955-1973, Dokumentation. Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1975.
  • Reeve, F.D. Robert Frost in Russia. Boston: Little Brown, 1964.
  • Salinger, Pierre. With Kennedy. New York: Doubleday, 1966.
  • Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. Robert Kennedy and His Times. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978.
  • Seaborg, Glenn T. Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
  • Sorensen, Theodore C. Kennedy. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
  • Sulzberger, Cyrus L. The Last of the Giants. New York: Macmillan, 1970.
  • U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Documents on Disarmament, 1961, 1962, 1963. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office 1962-1964.
  • U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. A Report on United States Foreign Policy and Operations, 1961. Eighty-Seventh Congress, Second Session. Senate. Document No. 73. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962.
    • ———Committee on Foreign Relations. Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Historical Series). Volume XIII. Eighty-Seventh Congress, First Session, 1961. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984.
    • ———Committee on Foreign Relations. Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Historical Series). Volume XIV. Eighty-Seventh Congress, Second Session, 1962. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1986.
  • U.S. Department of State. American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961-1963. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965-1967.
    • ———Department of State Bulletin, 1961-1963.
    • ———Documents on Germany, 1944-1985. Revised edition. Washington, 1986.
  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961, 1962, 1963. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962-1964.
    • ———Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963-1964. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965.