Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIV, Soviet Union

89. Memorandum From the Ambassador at Large (Thompson) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)¹

Washington, February 1, 1965.

The current exchange on the possibility of top level visits began with the President’s State of the Union Message. This was followed up with the President’s message to the Soviet Government of January fourteenth,² in which he referred to his hope for a visit from the Soviet side to the United States and said that if this hope should meet with a positive response from the Soviet Government, it would be a great satisfaction to propose definite times and offer a more formal invitation.

On January sixteenth, Dobrynin told me that he was sure his Government would consider a visit by the President to the Soviet Union would be in the interests of peace and good relations between our two countries and that if I could tell him the President would be interested, he would inform his Government and was sure the response would be positive.³ About a week ago, he asked me whether there had been any reaction to this inquiry. The January thirty-first article in Pravda stated that the Soviet reaction to the President’s statements on Soviet/American contacts was “positive.”

Both you and I have indicated to Ambassador Dobrynin our personal belief that the President would have to visit our principal European Allies before visiting the Soviet Union. Judging from this correspondence, there is a real possibility that the Soviets are interested in an early visit to this country but would like some indication of the President’s willingness to return it before going further. I would suggest that I might reply to Dobrynin along the following lines:

The President is, in principle, very much interested in a visit to the Soviet Union and hopes that it will be possible to arrange for such a visit before the year is out.⁴ In the meantime, the President has instructed me to say that he is gratified with the positive reaction to his invitation for a Soviet visit to the United States which appeared in a recent issue of Pravda and will be glad to issue a formal invitation at any time convenient to the Soviet Government.

Since writing the above, Dobrynin brought in a personal message to the President.⁵ The last paragraph reads as follows:

“We share your opinion on the desirability of personal meeting which would permit the direct and constructive exchange of opinions on questions of interest. We value the attention shown by you. It would give us great satisfaction to receive you in the Soviet Union on a State visit, which, in fact, would be a return visit. You can be certain that in our country you would receive a worthy and friendly welcome.”

Tommy

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, USSR, Vol. VII. Top Secret; Sensitive. According to another copy, this memorandum was drafted by Thompson. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163)
2. Document 85.
3. See Document 87.
4. In forwarding Thompson’s memorandum to the President on February 2, Bundy commented on this suggestion as follows in his covering memorandum: “I doubt if we should decide this until we know a little more clearly how many trumpets we may be blowing in Southeast Asia.” (Johnson Library, National Security File, Head of State Correspondence, Pen Pal Correspondence, Kosygin)
5. Document 90.