Dear Mr. President:1 In view of the happenings of the last few days, you may have some interest in my assessment of the trends regarding events--or rather the lack of them--at the Paris meeting and their significance to all of us.2
As you recall, I recently requested my ambassador to your country to outline to you in general terms the hopes I cherished for the relaxation of tensions as I prepared to come to Paris for the long-planned Summit Conference. These hopes were also expressed to me by the Presidents of the Latin American countries I was able to visit this last February and March.3
Unfortunately these hopes proved further away than I realized at the time. As a result of a chain of events within the Soviet Union which is not clear to me at this time, Mr. Khrushchev must have concluded before coming to Paris that progress at a Summit Meeting would be either undesirable or impossible. Accordingly, he embarked on a calculated campaign, even before it began to insure the failure of the conference and to see to it that the onus for such failure would fall on the West, particularly the United States.
As a device, Mr. Khrushchev seized upon his successful downing of an unarmed United States civilian reconnaissance plane, which admittedly was flying over Soviet territory. I need not assure you that this activity was not intentionally provocative and certainly not aggressive; it constituted one phase of an intelligence system made necessary for defense against surprise attack on the part of a nation which boasts of its capability to "bury" us all4--and one which stubbornly maintains the most rigid secrecy in all its activities.
At least this incident, while regrettable in the extreme, could not by any stretch of the imagination be of such magnitude as to justify the polemics and the abuse which Mr. Khrushchev saw fit to heap upon the United States. By so distorting and exaggerating this incident, he of course put an end, for the time being, to any hopes of progress.
My purpose in writing this letter, Mr. President, is primarily to assure you that my objectives, in spite of the occurrence at this meeting, remain completely unchanged. I am sure that this experience will serve to strengthen the ties that bind your country and mine, and that it will point up the long-term challenge to the Free World that requires the utmost in unity and cooperation.
I have every hope that as time goes by, the world will come to appreciate ever more strongly the urgent need for control of armaments, for mutual understanding, and for mutual respect among all men.
Please accept, Mr. President, the assurances of my continued respect and esteem.5 Sincerely
