Statement by President Eisenhower at Paris Summit

IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 16, 1960 James C. Hagerty, Press Secretary to President Eisenhower THE WHITE HOUSE (Paris, France) STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT EISENHOWER Having been informed yesterday by General de Gaulle and Prime Minister Macmillan of the position which Mr. Khrushchav has taken in regard to this conference during his calle yesterday morning on theme I gave most careful thought as to how this matter should best be handled, Having in mind the grea$ importance of this conference and the hopes that thepeoples of all the world have reposed in this meeting, I concluded that in the circumstances it was best to see if at todays private meeting any possibility existed through the exercise of reason and restraint to dispose of this matter of the overflights, which would have permitted the conference to go forward. I was under no illusion as to the probability of success of any such approach but I felt that in view of the great responsibility resting on me as President of the United States this effort should be made. In this I received the strongest support of my colleagues President de Gaulle and Prime Minister Macmillan. Accordingly, at this morning's private session, despite the violence and inaccuracy of Mr. Khrushchev's statements, I replied to him on the following terms: I had previously been informed of the sense of the statement just read by Premier Khrushchev. In my statement of May 11th and in the statement of Secretary Herter of May 9th, the position of the United States was made clear with respect to the distasteful necessity of espionage activities in a world where nations distrust each other's intentions. We pointed out that these activities had no aggressive intent but rather were to assure the safety of the United States and the free world against surprise attack by a power which boasts of its ability to devastate the United States and other countries by missiles armed with atomic warheads. As is well known, not only the United States but most other countries are constantly the targets of elaborate and/persistent espionage of the Soviet Union. There is in the Soviet statement an evident misapprehension on one key point. It alleges that the United States has, through official statements, threatened continued overflights. The importance of this alleged threat was emphasized and repeated by Mr. Khrushchev. The United States has made no such threat. Neither I nor my government has intended any. The actual statements go no further than to say that the United States will not shirk its responsibility to safeguard against surprise attack. more