556. Telegram 1953 from USUN, November 261
Department pass White House. Eyes Only for the Secretary. Cuba.
McCloy, Stevenson and Yost saw SYG this afternoon to bring him up to date on Cuban developments. McCloy reviewed latest conversation with Kuznetsov along lines USUN 1941, 1942.
US draft declaration given to SYG with warning we had not yet revealed publicly we had given any document to USSR and did not regard it as commitment until we heard from them and worked agreement out.
SYG’s reaction was good. Only comment he made was that next to last para on overflights would cause difficulty with USSR. Bunche suggested first part of sentence, referring to “understanding” might be deleted and para left as statement of US position.
SYG also seemed to favor in lieu SC meeting, possibility separate declarations by President and Khrushchev which would then be sent to him for circulation as SC document. He saw this as opportunity to avoid difficulties which otherwise would be raised by Cuban insistence on speaking in SC. On other hand, he agreed that this procedure would not prevent Cuba from later calling for SC meeting on overflight question, unless Russians were able to persuade them not to ask for meeting. Neither SYG nor associates showed any objection to overflights.
- Reports on meeting with Secretary General about latest Cuban developments. Top Secret. 1 p. DOS, CF 737.56361/11–2662.↩