Sources
 
The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files ("lot files") of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department's Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts.
 
The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Johnson and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
 
In preparing this volume, the editors made extensive use of Presidential papers and other White House records at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. Numerous White House memoranda, including memoranda to the President, testify to President Johnson's concern with issues relating to the Soviet Union. The bulk of the foreign policy records at the Johnson Library concerning the Soviet Union are in the USSR Country File and other component parts of the National Security File. Documentation on U.S. efforts during the last six months of 1968 to arrange a summit meeting and initiate arms control talks is found primarily in Walt Rostow's files in the National Security File, particularly his files on "Chlodnick," "Trip to Soviet Union," and "Rusk-Dobrynin."
 
The Department of State arranged for access to the many audiotapes of President Johnson's telephone conversations that are held at the Johnson Library. These audiotapes include substantial numbers of telephone conversations between President Johnson and Secretary of State Rusk, Secretary of Defense McNamara, the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy, and key members of Congress. The editors of this volume selected for publication several audiotapes of President Johnson's telephone conversations dealing with the Soviet Union. Transcripts were then prepared. Although the transcripts give the substance of the conversations, readers are urged to consult the recordings for a full appreciation of those dimensions that cannot be captured fully in a transcription, such as the speakers' inflections and emphases that may convey nuances of meaning.
 
Second in importance only to the White House records at the Johnson Library were the records of the Department of State. The Department's central files contain the cable traffic recording U.S. diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, memoranda of diplomatic conversations, and memoranda proposing action or providing information. Some important documents are found only in the Department's lot files. The files of Foy D. Kohler contain memoranda of his conversations with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin during 1967, when Kohler was Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs. The Conference Files maintained by the Executive Secretariat contain briefing materials as well as records of conversations. Documentation on initiatives that were not approved is often found only in desk or bureau files.
 
The Central Intelligence Agency provides access to Department of State historians to high-level intelligence documents from those records in the custody of that Agency and at the Presidential libraries. This access is arranged and facilitated by the History Staff of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, pursuant to a May 1992 memorandum of understanding. Department of State and CIA historians continue to work out the procedural and scholarly aspects of identifying the key portions of the intelligence record.
 
This volume includes a number of intelligence records. Among the intelligence records reviewed for the volume were files of the Directors of Central Intelligence, particularly John A. McCone's, CIA intelligence reports in White House files and in files of CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, and Historical Files of the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
 
Almost all of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of the agencies mentioned, the assistance of their staffs, and especially the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.
 
The following list identifies the particular files and collections used in the preparation of this volume. Many of the records are already available for public review at the National Archives. The declassification review of other records is going forward in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order 12958, under which all records over 25 years old, except file series exemptions requested by agencies and approved by the President, should be reviewed for declassification by 2002.
 

Unpublished Sources
 
Department of State Lot Files
INR/IL Historical Files
Files of the Office of Intelligence Coordination, containing records from the 1940s through the 1980s maintained by the Office of Intelligence Liaison, Bureau of Intelligence and Research
 
Kohler Files: Lot 71 D 460
Files of Foy D. Kohler for 1962-1968, including memoranda of his discussions with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin and Foreign Minister Gromyko
 

National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
 
Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State
 
Subject-Numeric Indexed Central Files
 
AV 4 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet Civil Air Agreement
BG Moscow, U.S. Embassy in Moscow
BG 13 Moscow, protection of Moscow Embassy
BG 16 Moscow, security at Moscow Embassy
BG 16-10 Moscow, technical penetration of Moscow Embassy
CON 4 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet Consular Treaty
CUL 8 USSR, exhibits in the Soviet Union
DEF 9 US, U.S. military exercises and maneuvers
DEF 18 UN, arms control, United Nations
DEF 18 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet arms control
EDU 12-2 Kennedy, memorials for President Kennedy
EDX US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet educational and cultural exchanges
EDX 4 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet educational and cultural exchange agreements
FT US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet trade
FT 1 US-USSR, general policy and plans for U.S.-Soviet trade
INCO-FISH US, U.S. fishing industry
INCO-WHEAT USSR, Soviet wheat and grain purchases
LEG 7 Mansfield, visit by Senator Mansfield
ORG 7 S, visits by Secretary Rusk
OS 12 USSR, Soviet ocean shipping
POL US-USSR, general US-Soviet relations
POL 1 US-USSR, general policy and background on U.S.-Soviet relations
POL 7 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet visits and meetings
POL 15-1 US/JOHNSON, President Johnson's meetings and correspondence with heads of state
POL 17 US-USSR, U.S. diplomatic and consular representation in the Soviet Union
POL 17-2 US-USSR, U.S. diplomatic immunities and privileges in the Soviet Union
POL 17-6 US-USSR, harassment of diplomatic and consular personnel
POL 32-1 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet territorial disputes and violations
POL 33-4 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet territorial waters issues
POL 33-6 US-USSR, U.S.-Soviet issues on the high seas
POL 1 USSR, general policy and background, Soviet Union
POL 7 USSR, visits and meetings, Soviet Union
POL 15 USSR, Soviet government
POL 15-1 USSR, Soviet head of state and executive branch
POL 17 USSR, diplomatic and consular representation in the Soviet Union
POL 23-6 USSR, internal security in the Soviet Union
POL 23-8 USSR, demonstrations, riots, and protests in the Soviet Union
POL 29 USSR, political prisoners, arrests, and detention in the Soviet Union
POL 30 USSR, defectors and expellees, Soviet Union
POL 17 USSR-US, Soviet diplomatic and consular representation in the United States
POL 17-2 USSR-US, Soviet diplomatic immunities and privileges in the United States
POL 17-7 USSR-US, administration of U.S. mission in the Soviet Union, including site acquisition for new chancery
POL 17-8 USSR-US, U.S. contacts with Communist representatives
POL 27 VIET S, military operations in Vietnam
PS 7-1 US-USSR, offenses, arrests, and detention
SP 8 US, exhibits concerning space and astronautics
UN 22-2 GA, foreign delegations to UN General Assembly
 
Lot Files
 
Bohlen Files: Lot 74 D 379
Files of Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen, 1942-1970
 
Conference Files: Lot 66 D 347
Documentation on trips taken and international conferences attended by the Secretary of State and other U.S. officials and on officials visits to the United States by heads of government and foreign ministers, 1965
 
Conference Files: Lot 67 D 586
Documentation on trips taken and international conferences attended by the President, the Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials, October 1966-May 1967
 
Conference Files: Lot 69 D 182
Documentation on trips taken and international conferences attended by the President, Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials for 1968
 
G/PM Files: Lot 69 D 258
Files on political-military affairs, including U.S.-Soviet military relationships, NATO, the Tripartite Talks, Germany, MRBMs, nuclear sharing, the Military Assistance Program, Japan, and Korea
 
Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163
Correspondence of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson with leaders of the Soviet Union, 1961-1969
 
S/AL Files: Lot 67 D 2
Files of Llewellyn E. Thompson, Jr., as Ambassador at Large, 1962-1966
 
Secretary's Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330
Memoranda of conversation of the Secretary and Under Secretary of State, 1961-1964
 
S/P Files: Lot 71 D 273
Subject Files of the Policy Planning Council, 1960-1968
 
S/P Files: Lot 72 D 139
Country Files, 1965-1969, and Top Secret Files, 1963-1971, of the Policy Planning Council
 
S/S Files: Lot 70 D 217
White House and agency memoranda, including Presidential memoranda of conversation and memoranda to the President, 1963-1966
 
S/S Files: Lot 74 D 164
State Department items and reports for the President's Evening Reading, 1964-1973; memoranda concerning Secretary-President luncheon meetings and press contacts, 1964-1969
 
S/S Files: Lot 76 D 435
Records of U.S.-U.S.S.R. conversations, 1961-1970
 
S/S Files: Lot 79 D 246
Microfilmed master chronology of international conferences attended by the President, Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials, 1953-1966
 
S/S-I Files: Lot 73 D 154
Memoranda of conversation for Ambassadors Llewellyn Thompson and Averell Harriman, 1965-1966, NMCC-State Representative Logs, 1965-1970, and miscellaneous material, 1969-1972
 
S/S-I Limdis/Exdis Microfilm (Eyes Only /Exclusive Distribution Telegrams, Airgrams and Dispatches)
Microfilm copies of State Department airgrams, telegrams, and dispatches marked eyes only, exclusive distribution, and limited distribution, 1953-1970
 

Nixon Presidential Materials Project
 
National Security Council Files
Henry A. Kissinger Office Files
 
Administrative and Staff Files-Transition
 
Country Files, USSR
 
Subject Files, National Security Study Memoranda
 

Central Intelligence Agency
 
DCI (McCone, Helms) Files, Job 80-B01285A
Files of Directors of Central Intelligence John McCone and Richard Helms
 
O/DDI Registry, Job 79-R01012A
Files of the Office of the Deputy Director for Intelligence
 
DDI Files, Jobs 79-T00936A and 80S-00003A
Files of the Directorate of Intelligence
 
DDO/IMS Files, Job 78-06423A
Files of the Directorate of Plans
 

Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
 
Papers of President Lyndon B. Johnson
 
National Security File

Agency File
McGeorge Bundy Files
Country File, USSR
Country File, Addendum, USSR
Head of State Correspondence
Intelligence File
Robert W. Komer Files
Memos to the President
National Intelligence Estimates
National Security Action Memorandums
NSC Meetings File
Walt Rostow Files

Special Files

Legislative Background File
President's Daily Diary
Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations and Meetings

Other Personal Papers

George Ball Papers
Tom Johnson's Notes of Meetings
Dean Rusk Appointment Books

 
Published Sources
 
Beschloss, Michael R., ed., Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
 
Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 1964-1968.
 
Dobrynin, Anatoly, In Confidence: Moscow's Ambassador to America's Six Cold War Presidents. New York: Random House, 1995.
 
Johnson, Lyndon B., The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.
 
U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Documents on Disarmament, 1963-1964. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964-1965.
 
U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Historical Series). Volume XVI. Eighty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, 1964. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988.
 
U.S. Department of State, American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1964-1967. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967-1969.
 
__________, Department of State Bulletin, 1964-1968.
 
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964-1968. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965-1970.

Volume XIV Index | Foreign Relations Volumes Online Released Prior to January 20, 2001