Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath


61. Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Cuba. A copy of this letter, transmitted in telegram 1070 from Moscow, October 24, arrived in the Department of State at 9:24 p.m. (Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 304)


62. Telegram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, General. Confidential; Limited Distribution. The source text bears the notation “Bundy saw 11 p.m. 25 Oct.”


63. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between President Kennedy and the Under Secretary of State (Ball)

Source: Department of State, Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272, Telcons—Cuba. No classification marking.


64. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between President Kennedy and the Under Secretary of State (Ball)

Source: Department of State, Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272, Telcons—Cuba. No classification marking.


65. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Rusk and the Under Secretary of State (Ball)

Source: Department of State, Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272, Telcons—Cuba. No classification marking.


66. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the Under Secretary of State (Ball) and the Representative to the United Nations (Stevenson)

Source: Department of State, Ball Papers: Lot 74 D 272, Telcons—Cuba. No classification marking. Ball was in Washington;Stevenson was in New York.


67. 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.


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

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Confidential; Eyes Only. Drafted at the White House. A note on the source text indicates it was relayed to McNamara, Lemnitzer, CIA, and Departments of the Treasury and Justice.


69. Telegram From the Department of State to the Mission to the United Nations

Source: Department of State, USUN Files:NYFRC 84-84-001, Incoming Telegrams. Secret; Niact; Eyes Only. Received in New York at 3:01 a.m.


70. Memorandum for the Files

Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President. Top Secret. Drafted by McCone. Also reproduced in part in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 305-307. For Bundy’s account of this meeting, see Document 71.


71. Record of Action of the Fourth 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 account of this meeting, see Document 70.


72. Telegram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State

Source:USUN Files:NYFRC 84-84-001, Outgoing Telegrams. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by Stevenson and Sisco.


73. Summary Record of the Fifth 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. McCone’s 3-paragraph summary of this meeting is in the Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President, and reproduced in CIA Documentson the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, p. 309.


74. Record of Telephone Conversation Between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Macmillan

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, Macmillan Telephone Conversations. Top Secret. The source text bears no drafting information. For Macmillan’s account of this conversation, see At the End of the Day, pp. 205-208.


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

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, Jupiter—Cuba. Secret; Priority. Received at 6:41 p.m. October 25.


76. Memorandum From the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman) to Secretary of State Rusk

Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Cuba, 1962. Confidential. The source text bears no drafting information.


77. Paper Prepared by the Planning Subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, General. Secret. The source text is attached to a memorandum from Rostow to Bundy, October 25.


78. 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.


79. Summary Record of the Sixth 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 6-10. Top Secret; Sensitive. McCone’s account of this meeting is reproduced in CIA Documentson the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 317-318. (Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President) See the Supplement. The record of action of the meeting, prepared by McGeorge Bundy, is in the Supplement. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. I, Meetings 6-10)Gilpatric’s 2-page handwritten notes for this meeting are in Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD(C) A Files:FRC 71 A 2896, RLG’s Notes re Cuba.


80. Memorandum From ABC Correspondent John Scali to the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, Elite-Psalm Documents. Confidential; Eyes Only. Copies were sent to U. Alexis Johnson, Ball, and Thompson. The source text bears the handwritten notation “Secretary has in hand.” For Hilsman’s account of drafting of this memorandum and his subsequent discussion with Rusk see To Move a Nation, pp. 217-218. Printed in part in Pierre Salinger, With Kennnedy, p. 274.


81. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Brazil

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.56361/10-2662. Top Secret; Niact; Eyes Only. Drafted by Martin, cleared with U. Alexis Johnson, and approved by Rusk.


82. Memorandum for the Record

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Special Group (Augmented). Top Secret; Eyes Only. The time of the meeting is from McCone’s account, which is reproduced in part in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 319-321.


83. Telegram From the Department of State to the Mission to the United Nations

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2662. Confidential; Priority. Drafted by Cleveland and cleared in draft by Rusk, U. Alexis Johnson, Chayes, Martin, McCloy, Stevenson, and Nitze. Repeated to Moscow.


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

Source: Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Cuba Security, Khrushchev Correspondence. Secret; Niact; Eyes Only; Verbatim Text. Relayed to the White House. The original Russian language text, which bears no classification, is ibid. Also printed in Department of State Bulletin, November 19, 1973, pp. 640-643. The source text is a translation done at the Embassy in Moscow, which received the letter at 4:43 p.m. Moscow time. The first section arrived in the Department of State at 6 p.m. and the last at 9 p.m. A “formal” translation, done by the Language Services Division of the Department of State, is in Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. 1101. Policy. Embassy translation follows of letter from Khrushchev to President delivered to Embassy by messenger 4:43 p.m. Moscow time October 26, under cover of letter from Gromyko to me.


86. Telegram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2662. Secret; Priority; Limited Distribution. Received in the Department of State at 8:19 p.m.


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

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, General, Macmillan Telephone Conversations. Top Secret. For Macmillan’s record of this conversation, see At the End of the Day, pp. 209-212.


88. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Planning Subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (Rostow) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, General, Planning Subcommittee. Top Secret. Initialed by Rostow.


89. Memorandum Prepared by the Planning Subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, WW Rostow. Secret; Eyes Only. The source text is attached to an undated memorandum of transmittal to the President and to an October 26 memorandum from Rostow to Rusk, which states that it was prepared in response to a “direct request” from Bundy on October 24.


90. Summary Record of the Seventh 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 6-10. Top Secret; Sensitive. A Record of Action of this meeting is in the Supplement. McCone’s 2 pages of handwritten notes for the meeting are in the Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President. They are also reproduced in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 331-332. Tape recording transcripts of this meeting are in the Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Presidential Records, No. 41.1 and 41a.1. For two other accounts of this and other meetings on October 27, see Robert F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days, pp. 93 ff. and Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy, pp. 712-716.