-- • • • • 'f'OP • SECI 't' • @ffir e nf t4 e ttnrntg itn erul llasl tngtnn II Gr October 30 1962 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL • Around 11 00 a m yesterday October 29th Ambassador Dobrynin telephoned me and said he would like to see me I made arrangements to see him in my office at 7 45 p m that • evening He brought me a letter from Mr Khrushchev which was unsigned and which was addressed to President Kennedy l read the letter twice and felt it did not properly set forth my conversation of the previous Saturday night with Ambassador Dobrynin However l said nothing at the time and he left After consultation with Secretary Rusk and Ambassador Thompson I met with Ambassador Dobrynin again in my office at 2 15 p m October 30th studied it overnight I told him I read the letter and had I said that I thought it was misleading and ' that it would require a letter of clarification from President Kennedy I repeated what I had told him the other evening that if OECLAS Fl 0 e o 12958 SEC 3 6 'FOP S SCft 'f' • t TOP • SECRET • Memorandum for The Secretary of State October 30 1962 the missile bases and other offensive weapons were not withdrawn from Cuba drastic action was going to be necessary by the United States I also repeated what I had said earlier that there never could be any kind of a deal or arrangement as far as the Turkish missile bases were concerned He said he understood that Saturday night and that he still understood that to be the fact I said this was an area where Mr Khrushchev's letter tended to be misleading and also there were some references to Mr Khrushchev• s letter of October 27th which had played no part in our discussion and that was also misleading He replied that he understood I repeated to him that within the next four or five months we expected to work out with our NATO allies a satisfactory resolution of this problem and I would hope that this and many of the other difficulties between our two countries could be resolved if the Cuban matter was satisfactorily disposed of He said he under- • stood there was no arrangement and he said he was anxious to know whether the President was personally aware of all of these matters l said he was as well as Secretary Rusk and Ambassador Thompson He said of course they never intended to publish this correspondence and I said ''Speaking quite frankly you also told TOP SECRET -z• • • 'fOP 8 SOBE113 • Memorandum for The Secretary of State October 30 1962 me your governn'le nt never intended to put missiles in Cuba 11 There is a feeling of mistrust l said and letters which are apt to be misleading such as this one could make the relationship more complicated and difficult He understood ou conversation I said and in my judgment nothing more was necessary It was a mi stake I said to try to formalize our rela tionehip but if they felt that this was necessary then they should deal exclusively with the State Department not with me l said I thought we should do what we could to reestablish the relationship between Mr • Khrushchev and President Kennedy and I did not feel correspondence on our conversations was very helpful at this time I said if the President answered the letter he would be forced to write a letter which would not m ake them happy and that this would complicate rather than clarify matters He said he understood picked up the letter and with several polite exchanges I took him down in the elevator and he left The meeting lasted approximately fifteen minutes RFK amn 4'0P SBCRikT- -3• • •