Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath


31. Record of Meeting

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, Cuba “Week” Drafts. Secret. Drafted by Meeker. The meeting was held in Ball’s conference room. McCone’s handwritten notes on this meeting are in the Supplement. Gilpatric’s handwritten notes on the meeting, comprising less than 1 page and dealing primarily with the Katzenbach-Meeker discussion of the legal framework, are in the Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD (C) A Files:FRC 71 A 2896, RLG’s Notes re Cuba.


32. Special National Intelligence Estimate

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, CIA-Cuba. Top Secret; Controlled Dissemination; Psalm. Also reproduced in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 197-202.


34. Minutes of the 505th Meeting of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSC Meetings. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text. The meeting was held in the Oval Room. For the Attorney General’s account of this meeting, see Thirteen Days, pp. 48-50.


35. Memorandum for the Files

Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President. Top Secret; Eyes Only; No Distribution. Drafted by McCone.


36. Notes on Meeting With President Kennedy

Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD (C) A Files:FRC 71 A 2896, Misc. Papers Regarding Cuba. Top Secret. For McCone’s record of this meeting, mistakenly noted as occurring at 10 a.m., see the Supplement. (Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President)Also reproduced in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 241-242.


38. Minutes of the 506th Meeting of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSC Meetings. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text. The meeting was held in the Oval Room.


39. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/10-2262. Confidential; Niact. Drafted by U.A. Johnson and cleared by Tyler.


41. Minutes of the 507th Meeting of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSC Meetings. Top Secret. The source text bears no drafting information.


42. National Security Action Memorandum 196

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAMs. No classification marking. In addition to the recipients mentioned in the source text, copies were also sent to Ball, Gilpatric, Thompson, Sorensen, Bundy, O’Donnell, Salinger, Wilson, Rostow, and Nitze.


43. Memorandum for the File

Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President. Top Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by McCone on October 24. A briefer account of this meeting by Clifton is in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Clifton Series, Conferences with the President. Also reproduced in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 275-279.


44. Letter From President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. No classification marking. At 7:41 p.m. on October 21 the Department of State had sent Ambassador Kohler the first draft of this message. (Telegram 961 to Moscow; Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163) Subsequent changes and additions resulted in only the second and final paragraphs remaining as originally drafted. The message was delivered to the Foreign Ministry at about 6 p.m. Washington time. Also printed in Department of State Bulletin, November 19, 1973, pp. 635-636.


45. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Macmillan

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, General. Top Secret; Eyes Only. The source text bears no drafting information. No time appears on the source text. Kennedy refers to it as happening “one hour” after Rusk gave Dobrynin the message to Khrushchev, but that would be during the address to the nation. Macmillan states that the conversation took place at 11:30 p.m. London time. (Harold Macmillan, At the End of the Day, 1961-1963, p. 194)


46. Telegram From the Embassy in France to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2262. Secret; Niact; Elite. Received in the Department of State at 7:29 p.m.


47. Minutes of Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Executive Committee Meetings. Top Secret; Sensitive. For McCone’s 3-page record of this meeting, also printed in CIA Documentson the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 283-284, see the Supplement. (Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President)Gilpatric’s handwritten 2-page record of this meeting is in the Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD (C) A Files:FRC 71 A 2896, RLG’s Notes on Cuba.


48. Telegram From the Embassy in the Soviet Union to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Secret; Niact; Elite; Eyes Only. The source text is a translation done at the Embassy in Moscow and received in the Department of State at 11:56 a.m. Kohler had been handed the letter at a meeting with Kuznetsov at 3 p.m. Moscow time. A copy of the Russian-language text is ibid.


50. Record of Action of the Second Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. I, Meetings 1-5. Top Secret; Sensitive. For McCone’s record of this meeting, see Document 51.


51. Memorandum for the Files

Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President. Top Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by McCone. Also reproduced in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 291-292.


52. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the Soviet Union

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. Confidential; Niact; Eyes Only.


53. Memorandum From Attorney General Kennedy to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Cuba, Security. Top Secret. A copy was sent to Rusk.


54. Memorandum From the Acting Chairman of the Board of National Estimates (Smith) to Director of Central Intelligence McCone

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, CIA-Cuba. Top Secret. The source text bears no drafting information.


55. Record of Action of the Third Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. I, Meetings 1-5. Top Secret; Sensitive. For Robert Kennedy’s recollections of the meeting, see Thirteen Days, pp. 67-71.


56. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Turkey

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2462. Secret; Priority; Eyes Only. Drafted by Ball, cleared with Tyler and NEA, approved by Rusk. Also sent to Paris for USRO.


57. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Planning Subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (Rostow) to President Kennedy

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, WWRostow. Top Secret; Sensitive.


58. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the Under Secretary of State (Ball) and the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)

Source: Department of State, Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272, Telcons—Cuba. No classification marking appears on the source text.


60. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the Under Secretary of State (Ball) and the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)

Source: Department of State, Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272, Telcons—Cuba. No classification marking. A similar but briefer memorandum of a telephone conversation between Bundy and Ball at 8:05 p.m. is in the Supplement. (Department of State, Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272, Telcons—Cuba)