Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath


91. Message From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy

Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. No classification marking. Other copies of this letter are ibid.: Lot 77 D 163, and in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, USSR, Khrushchev Correspondence. This “official translation” prepared by Language Services of the Department of State and an “informal translation” from the Embassy in Moscow are printed in Department of State Bulletin, November 19, 1962, pp. 646-649. A note on the source text indicates a copy was sent to Acting Secretary-General U Thant. Problems of Communism reports that this message was broadcast over Moscow radio at 5 p.m., the same time the Russian text was delivered to the Embassy.


92. Record of the Fourth Meeting of the Berlin-NATO Subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

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


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2762. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Received in the Department of State at 2:06 p.m.


94. Summary Record of the Eighth 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 copy of McCone’s 2-page handwritten notes for this meeting are in the Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President. They are reproduced in CIA Documentson the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, pp. 333-334. A Record of Actions taken at the meeting is in the Supplement. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. I, Meetings 6-10) A transcript of this meeting is ibid., President’s Office Files, Presidential Recordings, No. 42.1 and 42.2.


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.56361/10-2762. Unclassified; Niact. Regarding the drafting of this message, see Robert F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days, p. 102, and Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 714. Also printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1962, pp. 441-442.


96. Memorandum From Attorney General Kennedy to Secretary of State Rusk

Source: Kennedy Library, President’s Office Files, Cuba Missile Crisis, Khrushchev Correspondence. Top Secret. Drafted by Kennedy. For McGeorge Bundy’s recollections of the meeting with the President during the late afternoon of October 27, at which the decision was taken to send Robert Kennedy to talk with Dobrynin, see Danger and Survival, pp. 432-434.


97. Summary Record of the Ninth 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 and Gilpatric’s 1-page handwritten notes of this meeting are in Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, Meetings with the President, and Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD (C) A Files:FRC 71 A 2846, Gilpatric’s Notes on Cuba. McCone’s notes are reproduced in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, p. 335. The Record of Action for the Meeting is in the Supplement. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. I, Meetings 6-10)


98. Current Intelligence Memorandum

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, Subjects, Intelligence Materials. Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text.


100. Telegram From the Department of State to the Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. I, Meetings 6-10. Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by Bundy and U. Alexis Johnson, cleared by EUR and NEA, and approved by U. Alexis Johnson. Repeated to all other NATO capitals eyes only info Ambassadors and New York.


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.56361/10-2862. Top Secret; Niact; Eyes Only. Received in the Department of State at 2:01 a.m. on October 28.


102. Message From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy

Source: Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 65 D 438, Miscellaneous. No classification marking. Other copies of this message are ibid.: Presidential Correspondence, Lot 66 D 204, and Lot 77 D 163, and in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, USSR, Khrushchev Correspondence. The Russian-language text is in Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Also printed in Documents on Disarmament, 1962, vol. II, pp. 995-999. This “informal translation” and an “official translation” prepared by the Department of State are printed in Department of State Bulletin, November 19, 1973, pp. 650-654. According to a footnote in the Bulletin this message was broadcast over Moscow radio at 5 p.m. and a copy delivered to the Embassy in Moscow at 5:10.


103. Summary Record of the Tenth 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 1-page typed summary of the meeting and Gilpatric’s page of handwritten notes on the meeting are in Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01895A, Meetings with the President, and Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD(C) A Files:FRC 71 A 2896, RLG’s Notes re Cuba, respectively. McCone’s notes are reproduced in CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, p. 345. An account of the meeting as dictated by Walter Elder, based on a debriefing of McCone, is reproduced ibid., p. 347. A Record of Action for the meeting is in the Supplement. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. I, Meetings 6-10)


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2862. Unclassified; Niact. Drafted by Thompson and Ball, cleared by McGeorge Bundy, and approved by Rusk. Repeated priority to Paris, London, and New York.


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.5211/10-2862. Confidential; Niact. Drafted by U. Alexis Johnson and approved by Ball.


106. Memorandum of Conversation

Source: Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330. Secret. Drafted by Tyler and approved in S on October 30. A memorandum of a similar conversation with Alphand earlier in the afternoon is in the Supplement. (Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330)


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2862. Confidential; Priority; Limited Distribution. Received in the Department of State at 10:09 p.m.


108. Summary Record of the 11th Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. II, Meetings, 11-16. Top Secret; Sensitive. The Record of Action for this meeting (ibid.) is in the Supplement.


109. 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 (Bundy)

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, General, Planning Subcommittee. Top Secret. The source text bears Rostow’s handwritten notation: “The President may wish to see what we’re up to.” A summary of the Berlin/NATO subcommittee’s work on October 29 is printed in vol. XV, pp. 411419.


110. Memorandum of Conversation

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 782.56311/10-2962. Secret. Drafted by Helseth on October 30 and initialed by Tyler.


111. Summary Record of the 12th Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. II, Meetings, 11-16. Top Secret; Sensitive. The Record of Action for this meeting (ibid.) is in the Supplement.


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2962. Confidential; Priority; Limit Distribution. Received in the Department of State at 9:16 p.m. At 5:22 p.m. McCloy had called Rusk to report on the meeting described in this telegram. A memorandum of that conversation is in the Supplement. (Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD(C) A Files:FRC 71 A 2896, Cuba 1962)


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-2962. Confidential. Drafted by Cleveland, cleared with the Department of Defense, approved by U. Alexis Johnson. Repeated to Moscow.


114. Summary Record of the 13th Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. II, Meetings, 11-16. Top Secret; Sensitive. The Record of Action of this meeting (ibid.) is in the Supplement.


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-3062. Secret; Niact. Repeated to USUN. Received in the Department of State at 12:15 p.m.


116. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to the Members of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Vol. II, Meetings 11-16. Top Secret; Sensitive.


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.3722/10-3062. Secret; Priority. Received in the Department of State at 6:49 p.m.


118. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Rusk and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations (Stevenson)

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


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

Source: Department of State, Central Files, 737.5211/10-3062. Secret; Niact; Limited Distribution. Drafted by Sisco, cleared with Hilsman and Ball, and approved by Cleveland.


120. Message From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy

Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, USSR, Khrushchev Correspondence. The source text bears no classification or indication who made the translation.