Memorandum on Cuba for the President from the Attorney General, 24 October 1962

This item is a memorandum for President John F. Kennedy from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy regarding the Attorney General's meeting with Soviet Union Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin to discuss the situation in Cuba, later known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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TOPSECRE T October 24, 1962 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL I met with Ambassador Dobrynin last evening on the third as you suggested floor of the Russian Embassy and/made the following points: I told him first that I was there on my own and not on the instructions of the President. I said that I wanted to give him some background on the decision of the United States Government and wanted him to know that the duplicity of the Russians had been a major contributing factor. When I had met with him some six weeks before, I said, he had told me that the Russians had not placed any long-range missiles in Cuba and had no intention to do so in the future. He interrupted at that point and confirmed this statement and said he specifically told me they would not put missiles in Cuba which would be able to reach the continental United States. NUMBER E.G I said based on that statement which I had related to the President plus independent intelligence information at that time, the President had gone to the American people and assured them Sec. 34 DECLARATION that the weapons being furnished by the Communists to Cuba were TORSECRET