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{
    "localId": "193676",
    "label": "USSR: Vienna meeting: Background documents, 1953-1961: General",
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{
    "id": "193676",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193676",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "USSR: Vienna meeting: Background documents, 1953-1961: General",
    "description": "This file contains materials collected by the office of President John F. Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, concerning the Soviet Union. Materials in this file include newspaper articles, background papers on nuclear science and possible cooperative space exploration projects, a summary of a telephone conversation between President Kennedy and French President General Charles de Gaulle, an itinerary for President Kennedy's trip to Vienna, Austria, and copies of a joint statement issued by the President and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev concerning nuclear weapons, disarmament, and Germany following discussions in Vienna. The majority of this file consists of telegrams and memoranda to President Kennedy from Cabinet members and advisors regarding suggested strategies for discussing subjects such as nuclear weapons, disarmament, Berlin, and Laos with Premier Khrushchev.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193676",
    "identifierLocal": "JFKPOF-126-001",
    "collections": [
        "Papers of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Papers: President's Office Files",
        "Country Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Soviet Union",
        "Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971",
        "International relations"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/76/1936/193676/content/presidential-libraries/kennedy/POF/JFKPOF-126-001/JFKPOF-126-001-p0002.jpg",
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    "naId": 193676,
    "coverageEndDate": {
        "day": 21,
        "logicalDate": "1961-06-21",
        "month": 6,
        "year": 1961
    },
    "coverageStartDate": {
        "day": 13,
        "logicalDate": "1961-04-13",
        "month": 4,
        "year": 1961
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    "seq": 83,
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    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/76/1936/193676/content/presidential-libraries/kennedy/POF/JFKPOF-126-001/JFKPOF-126-001-p0084.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "A.\n30\nSECRET LIMIT DISTRI ITT\nJune 1, 1961\nPRESIDENT'S MEETING WITH KHRUSHCHEV\nVienna, June 3 - 4, 1961\nDECLASSIFIED\nE.O. 11652 Sec, 3(E) and 5(D) or (E)\nSpecial Background Paper\nstate Dept NLK-76-284\nBy MFD NARS, Date 6-11-76\nLINE OF APPROACH TO KHRUSHCHEV\nThis paper seeks to set forth certain lines of approach both general\nand specific which would offer the best possibility of getting through to\nKhrushchev and enhancing in his mind the creditability of United States\npositions. It seeks to eliminate emphasis on aspects of Soviet policy and\nits relation with the non-communist world, which experience has shown is\nwithout value and apt to be detrimental to the purposes we seek in this\nmeeting.\n1. General\nThe emphasis throughout should be placed upon the Soviet foreign\npolicy in its national aspects and any ideological topics or reference to\nthe general threat of communism in the world should not be dealt with per\nse but as a function of and in relation to Soviet state policy.\nThe United States and the Soviet Union as chief protagonists\nin the present world-wide struggle, find themselves in antagonistic\nconfrontation in regard to every international political problem. This\nis most certainly the Soviet view which treats every issue as a battle\nin a continuing struggle in which negotiation is not sought by the Soviet\nGovernment for the purpose of solution of a given problem, but as a\nweapon in political warfare to obtain a Soviet or communist victory at\nthe expense of the non-communist world.\nThere is only one major subject on which there would appear\nto be a coincident of interest between the United States and the Soviet\nUnion, and that is on the assumed common desire of both to avoid nuclear\nwar. Community of interest on this point should be the basic and starting\npoint of the entire approach to Khrushchev. On the basis of this common\ndesire to avoid nuclear war, the United States and the Soviet Union, as\nthe two leading powers in the world, have an enormous responsibility in\nthe matter of the preservation of peace. While recognizing that we will\nnot find any genuine common ground in regard to most if not all of the\ninternational issues in dispute, the manner in which these disagreements\nare handled in practice should be approached in the light of our common\ninterest in avoiding nuclear war and in our great responsibility as world\npowers.\n2. War\nIt should be emphasized to Khrushchev that the artificial\ndistinction between the three categories of war, contained in his January\nsixth speech and the eighty-one Party document, is inherently artificial\nand dangerous. The thesis that certain kinds of war can be segragated out\nfrom others is a most dangerous thesis. In reality, war is war and does\nnot lend itself to such tidy compartmentalization. Any form of armed\naction supported by a great power carries with it the obvious danger of\nLINIT"
}