228. Editorial Note

At 10:40 a.m. on June 23, 1967, President Johnson arrived by helicopter at the campus of Glassboro State College in Glassboro, New Jersey, for his first and only summit meeting with a Soviet leader. Chairman Kosygin arrived by automobile at 11:22 a.m. At 11:30 the two men began the first of three private meetings, two on June 23 and one on June 25, all of which were held in the study at Hollybush, the large stone home of the college president, Dr. Thomas E. Robinson. In addition, Chairman Kosygin and President Johnson together with their delegations met both days for luncheon in the dining room at Hollybush. (Johnson Library, President’s Daily Diary)

According to the President’s memoir, The Vantage Point, page 482, Glassboro, which had been proposed as a site the day before by New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes, offered several advantages: it was a small college town near the midpoint between New York and Washington and only 18 miles from the Philadelphia International Airport and 10 miles from the New Jersey Turnpike. The decision to hold the summit at Glassboro was announced at 6:35 p.m. on June 22.

Following their meetings on June 23, the two leaders made brief remarks to the press, indicating that they would resume their discussions at 1:30 p.m. on June 25. For text, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1967, Book I, pages 644–645. President [Page 513] Johnson then flew to Los Angeles to deliver a speech that evening at the President’s Club dinner, following which he flew to his ranch in Texas. The morning of June 25 he flew from Texas to Philadelphia, arriving by helicopter at Glassboro at 12:41 p.m. The Soviet delegation arrived at 1:31 p.m. The U.S. and Soviet delegations met for luncheon at 1:50, followed by a private meeting between President Johnson and Chairman Kosygin. (Johnson Library, President’s Daily Diary) Upon concluding their meeting, the two men again made brief remarks which are printed in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1967, Book I, pages 650–651. The President made additional remarks upon his arrival at the White House that evening, which are ibid., pages 651–652.

Documentation on the Glassboro meetings, including the briefing book prepared by the Department of State, is in the Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, USSR, President’s Meeting with Chairman Kosygin (Hollybush I and II). Additional documentation is ibid., Rostow Files, Hollybush and Trip to Soviet Union; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Conference Files: Lot 68 D 453, CF 200; and ibid., Central Files, POL 7 US. While Johnson and Kosygin were meeting on June 23, Secretary of State Rusk met at Glassboro with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko. A memorandum of their conversation on non-proliferation and other nuclear issues is printed in Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, volume XI, Document 198. A memorandum of the conversation on the Middle East is scheduled for publication in volume XIX. A memorandum of their conversation on West Germany is in Department of State, S/S-I Files: Lot 79 D 246. For President Johnson’s recollections of the Glassboro summit, see The Vantage Point, pages 481–485. Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin recalls the summit in In Confidence, pages 162–167. Walt Rostow recounts the meeting from his perspective in John W. McDonald, ed., U.S.-Soviet Summitry: Roosevelt through Carter (Washington, D.C.: Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, 1987), pages 56–62. An oral history interview with William D. Krimer is at the Johnson Library. Krimer was the U.S. interpreter at all the meetings but the final one and drafted the memoranda of conversation for the meetings at which he was interpreter.