: Thomas Fensch
: The Kennedy-Khrushchev Letters
: New Century Books
: 9780990718161
: 1
: CHF 12.20
:
: Geschichte
: English
: 585
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
In the early 1960s, Nikita Khrushchev begin correspondence with then-Pres. John Kennedy to repair gaps in the USSR-USA relationship. Their 120 letters continued until Kennedy;'s assassination in 1963. They discussed: the Cuban missile crisis; the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; a divided Germany; the war in Laos and other matters. This file was Top Secret until 2000 and published in book form in 2001. 575 pages. Invaluable for study of the Kennedy presidency and the 1960s.

“N.S. Khrushchev hopes the President of the United States will display a correct understanding of the situation.”

30. Message From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy

Moscow, undated/1/

N.S. Khrushchev, the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, received a communication from Robert F. Kennedy/2/ that President John F. Kennedy is concerned by a discouraging beginning of contacts on the German problem and on other problems which should be solved in the interests of the improvement of the international situation, the strengthening of peace and the development of normal relations between our countries.

N.S. Khrushchev fully shares the President’s concern. He was discouraged even in a greater extent than the President when the USSR Foreign Minister had reported on the results of his first talks with the US Ambassador in Moscow.

The position of the American Government on a number of issues, as set forth by the US Ambassador, actually repeats what had been said many times by former President Eisenhower, Chancellor Adenauer and by other Western statesmen. It proceeds from completely wrong basis and therefore is absolutely unacceptable. In fact the Soviet Union is urged to immortalize by its signature that temporary, by its nature, situation which exists now, that is contribute to the preservation of the occupation regime in West Berlin.

But this is unthinkable. It would be not a step forward, but a step backward. It is understandable that the Soviet Union cannot agree to this. So far as one can judge by the statements of the US Ambassador in Moscow in his talks with the USSR Foreign Minister the United States would like nothing less than to preserve the unhealthy and rather dangerous situation in West Berlin which has been and remains a source of tension in Europe, causes friction among dozens of states, including the USSR and the USA. The Soviet Union is pursuing quite different aims. It wants to remove the hotbed of international tension and create conditions for the development of good friendly relations among nations.

What the United States Government is proposing now would in effect not only throw us all back to the days of Vienna but would have created even worse prospectives. In this respect N.S. Khrushchev agrees with the President. That is why the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers is also discouraged. Yes, discouraged and distressed.

N.S. Khrushchev does not consider it necessary to explain again the a