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    "label": "Memorandum of Conversation [MemCon] Secretary Robert McNamara and Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroeder",
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    "title": "Memorandum of Conversation [MemCon] Secretary Robert McNamara and Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroeder",
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        "Robert S. McNamara Papers",
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    "subjects": [
        "Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989"
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            "day": 16,
            "logicalDate": "1961-10-16",
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            "year": 1961
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    "ocrText": "SECRET\nC. Give warning on interzonal trade. If visa requirement is not\ncanceled FRG will take economic countermeasures. Also there will be action\non a NATO level.\nAssume that 1 November approaches. There is an appeal to people not to\ntravel unless essential. Surface traffic is down, air travel up.\nNovember passes by, but visa requirement left on.\nAlternatively, assume Khrushchev signs peace treaty on 1 December to\nbe in force on 1 January. This ends allied rights to Berlin and no rights\nto traffic except by dealing with Pankow. Pankow might say no immediate\nchanges. You can stay in Berlin for six months. But we are issuing new\ndocuments available at checkpoints.\nMinister Schroeder then drew this conclusion: The more we give in on\ncivilian traffic, the worse off we will be on military traffic once having\naccepted a change of procedure on civilian traffic. And what would world\nopinion require in case II (military traffic), the West having acquiesced\nin case I (civilian traffic).\nSecretary McNamara said he would defer to Mr. Rusk's opinion on these\nmatters. However, speaking personally, he feels we cannot allow salami\nslice on civilian access without conditioning Khrushchev on military access.\nHowever, for Khrushchev to think that we might respond with nuclear weapons\nto this provocation is simply incredible.\nMinister Schroeder said he wanted to suggest deficiencies in our con-\ntingency planning.\nSecretary McNamara said that in this case we would be in Phase I of\ncontingency planning and that contingency plans would apply.\nMinister Schroeder said that these are difficult questions: It is hard to\nknow just how to react. If concession is accepted on vital requirement and\nwe try to offset with other countermeasures there would be a major setback.\nBut can one for psychological, military, and political reasons declare this\naction a blockage of access. It will appear to be a small change in procedure.\nIt is possible for the other side to play the game so that instead of a stamp\non an identity card, a driver would have to get a visa.\nAn evaluation of this contingency is needed, including an estimate of\nthe state of world opinion.\nMinister Schroeder has learned that even some Congressmen have traveled\non the surface and accepted visas.\n2\nSECRET"
}