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    "localId": "12009264",
    "label": "Memorandum of Conference with the President Authored by Andrew J. Goodpaster",
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    "id": "12009264",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum of Conference with the President Authored by Andrew J. Goodpaster",
    "description": "This memorandum records President Dwight D. Eisenhower's decision not to proceed with aerial surveillance overflights at that time.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12009264",
    "collections": [
        "White House Office, Office of the Staff Secretary: Records of Paul T. Carroll, Andrew J. Goodpaster, L. Arthur Minnich, and Christopher H. Russell",
        "Alphabetical Subject Files"
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 11,
            "logicalDate": "1959-04-11",
            "month": 4,
            "year": 1959
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    "ocrText": "TOD pronet\n101 OLUNL\nApril 11, 1959\nMEMORANDUM OF CONFERENCE WITH THE PRESIDENT\nApril 7, 1959\nOthers present:\nSecretary McElroy\nMr. Bissell\nGeneral Goodpaster\nThe President said he had asked Mr. McElroy and Mr. Bissell\nto come in to tell them that he had decided not to go ahead with\ncertain reconnaissance flights for which he had given tentative\napproval the preceding day. He said he wanted to give them\nhis thinking.\nFirst, we now have the power to destroy the\nSoviets without need for detailed targeting. Second,\nas\nthe\nworld is going now, there seems no hope for the future unless\nwe can make some progress in negotiation (it is already four\nyears since the Geneva meeting) Third, we cannot\nin\nthe\npresent circumstances afford the revulsion of world opinion\nagainst the United States that might occur the U. S. being\nthe only nation that could conduct this activity. Fourth, we\nare putting several hundred million dollars into programs for\nmore advanced capabilities.\nIn summary, the President said he did not agree th at this project\nwould be worth the political costs.\nHe added that he had called Secretary Dulles who had taken the\nview that if the planned action were in the East he would see no\nobjection but in the North and South of their sector he would not\ndo it. Mr. Dulles had added that if the current negotiations fail,\nwe must at once get the most accurate information possible.\nThe President said he agreed on the need for information. This\nneed is highlighted by the distortions several senators are making\nof our military position relative to that of the Soviets, and they are\nhelped in their \"demagoguery \" by our uncertainties as to Soviet\nprograms. He was concerned over the terrible propaganda impact\nthat would be occasioned if a reconnaissance plane were to fail.\nHe added that there is some evidence that the Soviets really want\na Summit Meeting. The President himself feels that there is need\nDECLASSIFIED\nTOP OLUNLT\nTOO aronrt\nE.O. 12958. SEC. 3.6(b)\nMR 93 - 17301\nBY His DATE 9/11/26"
}