© László BORHI
© Cold War History Research Center, Budapest

This chronology is based on the following publication: Borhi László: Az Egyesült Államok és a szovjet zóna, 1945–1990 [The United States and the Soviet Zone, 1945-1990], Budapest: História, 1994.

January 10. The US gives food aid to Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the GDR and Yugoslavia, the latter in the value of 32 million dollars.

February 7. The US, Great Britain and France provide 89 million dollars in economic aid to Yugoslavia.

February 8. Prime Minister Malenkov is removed in the Soviet Union, his policy directed at the production of consumer goods at the expense of heavy industry is condemned. His is succeeded by Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin. – Foreign Minister Molotov’s speech on foreign policy: In a “new world war…what will perish will not be world civilization, however much it may suffer from new aggression. But it will be that rotten [non-Communist] system [of Western bloc nations] with its imperialist basis…that will perish”. – Reactions – Eisenhower: there is hopeful speculation, although no actual evidence, that Russia’s hold on Red China and its European satellites is weakening. Averrill Harriman: “It now appears that the Kremlin [is?] into the Stalinist policy of developing heavy industry and armament at the expense of consumer goods”.

February 19. The Soviet government announces that it will propose freezing the armed forces of each nation on the January 1, 1955 level, the liquidation of nuclear arms and the convening of a conference on disarmament under UN auspices. – The proposal is unacceptable for the West because it would impede the rearmament of the FRG and the US would have to surrender its nuclear arsenal, which balances the Soviets’ conventional superiority.

February 25. The subcommittee of the UN Disarmament Committee begins talks on disarmament and nuclear control in London. Participants: the US, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and Canada.

March 1. Churchill’s speech in the House of Commons: the British government’s decision on the development of the H-bomb is the “only sane policy,” for the West: “defense through deterrents”. He said that the East-West atomic arms race might “lead to a stage…where security will be the sturdy child of power and survival the twin brother of annihilation”.

March 16. At a press conference President Eisenhower signaled that in case of war the US would use tactical nuclear weapons. According to Eisenhower, the probability of war is now greater than it used to be.

May 1. Soviet minister of defense Zhukov’s speech: Soviet politics “is aimed at solving controversial international questions by peaceful means,” but West German rearmament “hampers the lessening of international tension.”

May 8. On the anniversary of VE day, Zhukov states in Pravda that Anglo-American ruling circles are planning nuclear war against the Soviet Union and its allies, and attacks West German rearmament.

May 9. The FRG enters NATO. – US veterans arrive in Moscow to commemorate their meeting the Red Army at the river Elbe at the end of World War II.

May 10. The US, England and France in identically worded notes call on the Soviet Union to take part in a conference on avoiding conflicts.® May 26, 1955.

May 14. The Warsaw Pact is formed.

May 15. The Austrian State Treaty is signed. – Commentary: Secretary of State Dulles: The end of the Austrian occupation “will mark the first time that the Red armies will have turned their face in the other direction and gone back since 1945”. He predicted that this was bound “to have tremendous impact in the countries where the Red armies are…in occupation. It is going to create a mounting desire on the part of those people to get the same freedom from that type of occupation that the Austrians have gotten”. May 26. According to presidential disarmament advisor Harold Stassen, the end of the Cold War is approaching, but the struggle for ideological victory may begin.

June 5. The Warsaw Pact enters into force. According to Dulles, Moscow may use the Warsaw Pact for a new type of occupation of its satellites.

June 10. Dulles states in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the US seriously considered requesting the USSR to withdraw its forces from Romania and Hungary when the Austrian occupation ends.

June 22. Two Soviet fighters open fire on the Neptun type aircraft of the US navy, which was on patrol over the Bering-straits. According to the US, the plane was making a routine flight over international waters in the Bering-strait area. The plane was forced to make a crash landing; three out of the four-member crew were injured. Because of the seriousness of the affair, the White House issued an announcement (June 24). President Eisenhower instructed Secretary of State Dulles to discuss the issue with Molotov who was in San Francisco on the UN anniversary. – June 25. Molotov presents a note to the US government in which the Soviet government expressed its sorrow over the incident and its willingness to pay 50% of the damages. – Dulles expresses his satisfaction over the Soviet government’s statement, although the Soviet offer is less than what the US asked for in the light of the information it received. According to the secretary of state, this is the first time the Soviet Union publicly expressed its sorrow at the action of its ownarmed forces.

June 29. At a press conference Eisenhower states his certainty that the incident had no political motivation. At the press conference Eisenhower declared “there can be no real peace in the world,” while the peoples of the satellite states cannot choose their own form of government. ® July 18-23.

July 7. Some details of J. F. Dulles’ secret speech come to light. According to the politician, “the Soviets are overextended;…now they are seeking…new policies which will grant them some respite against strains which they have been under in trying to…keep up the pace which has been set by the free world”.

July 16. A 12 member Soviet agricultural delegation arrives in the US. According to the opinion of the Soviet delegation, the American agricultural methods are more economical than Soviet methods, but they are not more efficient.

July 18.-23. The summit conference of the great powers – France, Great Britain, the US and the USSR in Geneva. In his opening speech President Eisenhower criticizes “artificial barriers such as now interfere” with East-West communication. He brought up “the right of peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and of restoring sovereign rights and self-government to those who have been deprived of them”. “The American people feel strongly that certain peoples of Eastern Europe…have not yet been given the benefit of this pledge of our wartime declaration, reinforced by other wartime agreements.” – French prime minister Faure states that the key for international harmony is the solution of the German question. – Soviet Prime Minister Bulganin: a debate over the East European governments would “move us towards interference in the internal affairs of these states.” German unity must be preceded by the establishment of an all-European security system, since “the remilitarization of the FRG and her integration into military groupings of the Western powers is the main obstacle” to German reunification. – The agenda of the conference: German reunification, European security, arms reduction, East-West relations.® November 8, 1955.

July 21. President Eisenhower’s disarmament plan: the US and the Soviet Union should exchange the full description of military installations found in the two states. As the next step the possibility of supervision by way of air photographs must be ensured.® August 14, 1955. – According to Budapest radio, 15 people are sentenced for espionage on behalf of the United States. The sentences range from death to ten years in jail.

July 22. The US President on the normalization of East-West relations: lowering barriers to “the interchange of information and ideas between our peoples,” lowering the barriers “which now impede the opportunities of people to travel anywhere…for peaceful, friendly purposes, so that they all will…know each other face-to-face”. Creation of conditions “to increase the exchange of peaceful goods throughout the world”.

July 23. According to Bulganin, the Soviet Union is ready to promote with all means the development of East-West relations, the strengthening of economic and cultural ties. – Dulles on the conference: “war danger has further receded” – Khrushchev: in Geneva both sides “won conviction that neither side wants war”.

July 29. The White House announces that the US is planning to launch small satellites around the earth in the framework of the International Geophysical Year. The results of the research will be placed at the disposal of all scientists (including Russian) around the world since the plan has civilian and not military objectives. – Republican senator Bridges protests that the White House wants to place at Russia’s and other nations’ disposal information which can be used against the security of the US. – Democratic senator Byrd opines that these data can be used for military purposes against the US. – The Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Richard B. Russel expresses his “grave doubts” as to the wisdom of the exchange of information. – Director of the National Science Fund Alan T. Waterman denies the military value of such information.® October 5, 1957.

August 4. The Soviet prime minister expresses his doubts on the usefulness of the Eisenhower plan on aerial reconnaissance and the exchange of military plans. He denies on the other hand that the USSR rejected the Eisenhower plan. According to Bulganin, the summit was a turning point in the relations among the great powers.® September 19, 1955. – According to reports the USSR renewed its nuclear test explosions. According to Eisenhower this does not mean that the Soviet Union necessarily gave up their more conciliatory stance.

August 11. In a note Bulgaria expressed its sorrow to the United States because of the 12 American victims of an Israeli civilian flight shot down by Bulgaria.

August 12. The USSR announces that until December 15 it will reduce its armed forces by 640 thousand. – According to Dulles it is hard to evaluate the military significance of the announcement lacking information on the size of the Soviet armed forces, but the Soviet army will still remain larger than the US armed forces.® May 14, 1956

August 14. According to presidential disarmament advisor Harold Stassen, the US was unable to work out an efficient method to identify and control nuclear arms, but is willing to combine Soviet proposals for ground control with the Eisenhower plan.

August 19. The USSR announces the release of three US political prisoners.

August 20. A three member Baptist delegation that visited the USSR for two weeks and preached in 18 churches returns to the US.

August 24. In a speech delivered in Philadelphia ,the President pointed out that the oppression of the captive peoples was no longer justifiable with security reasons.

August 29. A five-power disarmament conference begins in New York in the framework of the UN Disarmament Committee. The US urges the acceptance of Eisenhower’s plan for the exchange of information, which would be based on aerial reconnaissance. – The Soviet representative cites the lack of confidence as the main obstacle to disarmament.

August 30. The Soviet Union seeks large exchange of tourists with the US if the financial side is worked out. According to Soviet deputy foreign minister Valerian Zorin, the Soviet Union wants to open Inturist offices in the US.® July 24, 1955.

August 30.-September 7. Poland, Hungary, Romania and Albania announce arms reduction. The Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia had done this earlier.

August 31. Soviet deputy prime minister Kaganovich and deputy minister Malenkov claim that the Soviet Union is ready to give information on the USSR’s strategic mineral reserves. The pledge was made to Senator Malone.

August 1. Soviet disarmament plan: The US, China and the Soviet Union reduce their armed forces to 1.5 million each; the banning of nuclear weapons after 75% of the reduction had been carried out; the full ban and liquidation of nuclear arms after the remaining 25% reduction had been carried out; in the meantime the West may use nuclear arms only in cases deemed aggression by the UN Security Council; the immediate ban on nuclear tests.

September 1. The US government orders Hungary to end all propaganda activities in the US in retaliation for restrictions on US activities in Budapest.

September 5. Senator Malone declares in Moscow that he found no proof that the people are rebelling against the Soviet system and thus the propaganda spread by American organizations in order to increase dissatisfaction and to incite resistance is senseless.

September 9-13. Moscow and Bonn agree on establishing diplomatic relations.

September 12. Soviet prime minister Bulganin and the first secretary of the CPSU, Nikita S. Khrushchev tell five US Senators that the Soviet Union is willing to develop commercial relations with the US. According to Khrushchev trade would improve political relations as well.

September 13. US Senator Bridges recommends US aid to those nations alone that participate in the fight against communism. He quoted a congressional resolution that denied more aid to Yugoslavia because Belgrade improved its relations with Moscow in spite of the fact that it obtained several hundreds of million dollars in aid.

September 19. In a letter written to Eisenhower, Bulganin claims that the Soviet Union has nothing “in principle” against exchanging military plans and the aerial control of arms.® October 12, 1955.

September 23. Soviet minister of foreign affairs Molotov declares at the UN General Assembly that his country is studying the Eisenhower plan, which Molotov deemed as the “sincere manifestation” of the will to disarm.

September 26. A Chicago dentist arrives in Moscow in a car with a trailer. – According to US sources the dentist, who wanted to reach Afghanistan through the Soviet Union, is the first tourist that arrived in the USSR by car since the war.

September 27. The State Department announces that the government does not wish to finance the performances of the musical “Porgy and Bess,” behind the Iron Curtain, since the tour is politically not justified.® December 26, 1955.

September 30. The Soviet pianist Emil Gilels arrives in the US. Since the war he is the first Soviet musician who visited the US, where he spent one month.

October 10. According to J. F. Dulles the historical record shows that unilateral disarmament does not bring peace. According to the Secretary of State it is unclear whether Soviet politics means a real change in the aims or whether it is purely a maneuver “the US must prepare for both eventualities. The US cannot refuse a change the whole world desires, at the same time it cannot expose itself to mortal danger either”.

October 12. President Eisenhower conditionally accepts the Soviet proposal concerning arms inspection teams to be sent to American and Soviet territory. Beside the US plan for aerial inspection, Eisenhower accepted that based on a previous Soviet proposal, control units would be sent to Soviet and American areas of key importance.® December 25, 1955.

October 17. US Vice President Richard Nixon declares that “the chances for peace today are better than at any time since World War II”. According to Nixon four time bombs need to be defused: “the unnatural division of peoples”; “the subjection of the captive states Eastern Europe”; “the world-wide, organized campaign of subversion against free governments”; “the fear of surprise attack which can only be removed by an adequate inspection system.

October 27.-November 16. The Geneva meeting of the foreign ministers of the four great powers (MacMillan of Great Britain, Pinay of France, Molotov of the USSR and Dulles of the US). Agenda: German unification and European security; East-West relations.® November 18.

October 31. The US announces the cancellation of the restrictions that were introduced in 1952 on traveling to Iron Curtain countries. This does not include Bulgaria or Albania with which the US does not maintain diplomatic relations.® February 3, 1956.

November 3. The US secretary of commerce announces that from the end of 1955 the licensing procedure of non-strategic commodities to the Soviet bloc will be similar to those for non-communist countries. According to present rules each shipment requires a separate license. After the changes a “general licensing system” will be introduced.® April 26, 1956.

November 6. Meeting between Yugoslav President Tito and Secretary of State Dulles. One of the themes of the discussion is the future of the satellite states. They agree about having to reinstate these countries’ independence. – First deputy prime minister Lazar Kaganovich talks about the world-wide triumph of communism.

November 7. For the first time a US President greets the Soviet Union on the anniversary of the Great October Revolution. – According to Soviet minister of defense Zhukov, the Soviet Union is threatened by aggressive Western circles. – At the reception given in the honor of November 7 Molotov expresses his doubts concerning the Geneva meeting.

November 8. The USSR rejects the Western plan for German unification. As its precondition Moscow wants the dissolution of Western integrations (NATO, WEU).

November 18. Dulles’s evaluation of the Geneva meeting of foreign ministers: the danger of war diminished; the cold war continues in the spirit of competition; the military and the mutual security policy of the US remains unchanged, the doctrine of “long haul” is maintained. (The “long haul” doctrine first appeared in the document called NSC 68 in 1949. According to the document the US must prepare for a long arms race, conventional weapons must be developed alongside the nuclear arsenal, which required significant investment).

November 21. According to New York Governor Harriman the spirit of Geneva lived for only three months, while the Soviets achieved what they wanted: the reduction of tension for their own purposes without yielding in any of the basic issues.

November 27. A five-member Soviet delegation arrives in New York in order to purchase hybrid maize and agricultural machines.

November 28. Three Romanian agricultural experts arrive in New York to purchase hybrid maize from the Garst and Thomas company.

December 1. In a speech given in Burma, Soviet party first secretary Khrushchev accuses the Western powers of unleashing Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union in 1941. He thinks it is not unimaginable that they are preparing for something similar with the FRG now.

December 14. As part of a package deal Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania are admitted into the UN.

December 23. The USSR permits the distribution of 500 thousand Russian language “Amerika” journals in the Soviet Union. The Soviet embassy in Washington may issue its information bulletin in the US again.

December 25. Eisenhower on Eastern Europe: “The American people recognize the trials under which you are suffering, join you in your concern for the restoration of individual freedoms and political liberty and share your faith that right in the end will prevail to bring you once again among the free nations of the world”.® December 29, 1955.

December 26. “Porgy and Bess” is performed in Leningrad.

December 29. In a speech given in the Supreme Soviet, Khrushchev rejects Eisenhower’s “Open Skies” plan. (The “Open Skies” plan would have been directed at increasing confidence between the two superpowers by allowing almost unlimited reconnaissance in each other’s airspace). According to Khrushchev the Eisenhower plan fails to devote substantial attention to disarmament. – Khrushchev denounces Eisenhower’s December 25 speech devoted to the East European peoples.

December 30. According to the press secretary of the White House, the President and Dulles declared the peaceful liberation of the captive people will continue to be the main goal of American foreign policy until this effort is successful. – According to Dulles the year 1955 did a lot for peace…and 1956 will increase the influence of liberty in the world. – Soviet Prime Minister Bulganin’s view: The year 1956 will bring new success in the struggle against the cold war. According to the historical example the American and the Soviet people are capable of living peacefully side by side.

January 23. Soviet prime minister recommends a friendship and mutual cooperation treaty to the US. According to Bulganin Soviet-American cooperation is based on fundamental and lasting interest. There are no unsolvable disputes, the present points of contention came about because of European security, the German question and certain Far Eastern problems.

February 1. Speech by Democratic Senator Jackson: peace is in jeopardy, “the Soviets may win the race” for the production of IRBM-s. The IRBM would enable the “ballistic blackmail” of the US and its partners, says the Senator.

February 3. Bulganin repeats his offer concerning a Soviet-American treaty rejected by the US. According to Bulganin the Soviet Union is ready to sign a similar agreement with Great Britain and France and he maintains the proposal for an agreement between NATO and the Warsaw Pact as well. – The US reintroduces the travel ban that had been canceled for Hungary on October 31. The US suspended the “consideration of talks on outstanding US-Hungarian problems” as well and warns that soon new travel restrictions will be introduced for Hungarian diplomats in the US. The reason: two Hungarian employees of the US Legation in Budapest were jailed for espionage.

February 14.-25. The Twenty-third Congress of the CPSU. (The US publishes Khrushchev’s secret speech, which denounced Stalin’s certain crimes, in June). According to J. F. Dulles the talk contained a lot of new information.

February 24. Dulles’s opening speech in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The strength and unity of the free world forced the Russians to “revamp their creed from A to Z”.(…) “They are playing our game now in offering aid to underdeveloped regions”. Reactions - Adlai Stevenson: “Surely he [Dulles] knows better. If he doesn’t he should, and if he does, he should not mislead the country”. – Averrell Harriman: It was “reckless” of Dulles to claim that the Russians are changing their system because it “ can only contribute to the unjustified complacency which Eisenhower and Dulles have been encouraging”. – Hubert Humphrey: Dulles’s evaluation of the situation is “absurd”. The Reds’ new tactic supplement the old objectives and increases the Soviet danger. – George F. Kennan: “I do not recognize the world Mr. Dulles is talking about.”

March 1. In a letter to Bulganin, Eisenhower proposes arms reduction: the US would consider freezing the accumulation of fissionable materials for military purposes, if the Soviet Union accepts the “open skies” principle. – March 6. Soviet premier Bulganin calls the Eisenhower letter “interesting and good”.® April 30, 1957.

March 2. French Foreign Minister Pineau announces he will try to synthetize the East-West proposals for arms reduction during his visit to Moscow in May. According to Pineau in spite of the friendship and solidarity there is no common American-French-British world politics. He condemned the fact that the West overemphasized the role of military strength. Pineau urged giving up the “Iron Curtain” mentality, the increase of East-West cultural and commercial ties.® May 15, 1956.

March 17. The disarmament proposal of Soviet deputy foreign minister Andrei Gromyko: the halting of H bomb tests; freezing conventional forces on the 1955 level and their reduction to a lower level.

March 29. According to a congressional report the Soviet Union has 890 thousand scientists and engineers, the US has 760 thousand, Western Europe has 925 thousand. In 1954, 104 thousand scientists and engineers graduated from Soviet universities, 53,500 from American, 43,500 from West European ones. The US would need 30-35 thousand engineers annually but in 1954 only 22,329 graduated. The Soviet standard of training scientists is of a high standard and is comparable to the best in the West.

April 18-27. The London visit of CPSU first secretary N. S. Khrushchev and Soviet Prime Minister Bulganin. Khrushchev states that Eisenhower’s “open skies” plan belongs to the realm of fantasies. In his speech on the 19^th he emphasizes the necessity of the policy peaceful coexistence. – April 27. According to Bulganin the next year the Soviet Union will be ready to purchase one billion pounds worth of British ships, industrial equipment and raw materials in case the commercial restrictions and discrimination against the Soviet Union is lifted. – According to Eden the talks might mean the “beginning of the beginning”. One third of the shopping list submitted by the Soviets is not involved by the embargo on strategic goods and thus there is a chance to increase Anglo-Soviet trade.

April 26. The US Secretary of Commerce announces that 700 articles of 57 categories of goods will fall under general licensing that is they will become freely exportable to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

May 4. The State Department announces that talks will begin with Romania about the improvement of commercial links and about the realization of the 88.5 million dollar US indemnification claim, which stems from the post-war nationalization of US property. The US signaled that it would raise political issues as well, such as the imprisonment of US citizens in Romania.

May 7.-12. The Paris visit of Yugoslav President Tito. Tito wants the French to license the Yugoslav production of the Mystere IV fighter.

May 14. The USSR announces that it will reduce its armed forces by 1.2 million until May 1, 1957.

May 15. According to Dulles the reason for the Soviet arms reduction is the labor shortage in industry and agriculture, the reorientation of people to the industry may increase the Soviet military strength. – According to American estimates the Soviet armed forces number 4.2 million people, while the US army is 3 million strong. – French prime minister Mollet and foreign minister Pineau’s five day visit to Moscow. Mollet is the first Western premier that paid a visit to Moscow since December 1944.® June 18, 1956.

May 21. According to a Washington report the Western export of the Soviet bloc increased to an estimated 2.3 billion dollars, by 35%, the export to the US grew from 42 million dollars in 1954 to 55 million dollars, but this is still only 50% of the 1948 figure. The Soviet bloc’s import from the US went up from 6.1 million dollars in 1954 to 7.2 million dollars in 1955. In the period between January and March 1956 licenses were given out in the US for the East European export of 8.5 million dollars worth of commodities, including automobiles and agricultural machinery.

May 26. The State Department reports that the US rejected Bulgaria’s overtures for the restoration of Bulgarian-US diplomatic relations.

June 4. The VOA begins to broadcast the text of Khrushchev’s secret speech to the nations of the Soviet bloc.

June 7. According to Pineau the Soviet Union attributes great significance to raising the Iron Curtain and it would be a great mistake if the West wanted to maintain it. – The US House of Representatives reduces the amount of foreign aid recommended by the President by 1.1 billion dollars. The House continues to support aid to Yugoslavia for the reason that it is in the interest of US security. The Senate rejects the House’s proposal on Yugoslav aid.

June 8. The Soviet Union delivers an invitation to Moscow to the US chiefs of staff. Eisenhower does not see it timely for the chiefs to visit Moscow, although the chief of staff had already accepted the invitation.

June 18. During his visit in Washington Pineau recommends the relaxation of trade restrictions towards the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China.

June 20. According to the French foreign minister the US must exploit the “irreversible changes” in the Soviet Union and must try to improve relations, otherwise it risks the maintenance of the Iron Curtain.

June 24. The chief of staff of the US Airforce, General N. F. Twining arrives to Moscow the Soviet Aviation Day celebrations.

June 29. President Eisenhower approved the National Security Council’s program to improve East-West relations.

July 23. British Prime Minister Eden states in a speech given in the House of Commons that the international situation changed fundamentally the past year and England will pursue a more flexible policy towards the Soviet Union.

August 21. The Republican Party’s election platform is published. The party’s foreign policy platform among other things is “to end the injustices of nations divided against their will...subject to foreign domination…We…look forward to the eventual end of colonialism.” “Free flow of news, information and ideas” and “exchange of persons” between the “free” and “captive” worlds was a GOP objective.

September 28. Yugoslav President Tito visits the Soviet Union. In connection with this Dulles warns that if Belgrade takes steps towards the Soviet Union, US aid to Yugoslavia will be in jeopardy. According to a law passed on July 9 Eisenhower will have until October 16 to decide whether further aid to Yugoslavia is in the interest of the United States. The one billion dollar aid, the fate of which depends on the President’s decision is said to contain 300 jet fighters. – October 2. Dulles declares that there is no sign of Tito having changed his independent policy that is directed at the increased freedom of the satellites. – October 15. President Eisenhower conditionally permits further congressional aid to Yugoslavia, primarily in the form of foodstuffs. The President recommends the suspension of the shipment of jet fighters and other heavy equipment until the situation is clarified.® May 14, 1957.

October 20. The US President on the Polish events: “all friends of the Polish people recognize and sympathize with their traditional yearning for liberty and independence.” He added, “our hearts go out” to all “the captive peoples” of satellite Europe. – October 22. In a speech Eisenhower promises US aid to Poland and other “freedom-loving” satellites if they “need it and want it and if they can profitably use it”. – Dulles’s interview to CBS television: he did not “think we would send armed forces to East Germany or Poland” to oppose a possible Soviet military moves against the new Polish government. According to Dulles in the present political situation intervention would be “the last thing the Polish people want”. Dulles does not think that Soviet intervention is likely and states that the US is ready to grant economic aid to Poland.

October 25. Communiqué by President Eisenhower: the Hungarian uprising “is a renewed expression of the intense desire for freedom long held by the Hungarian people”. According to Dulles the “captive peoples” could “draw upon our abundance to tide themselves over the period of economic adjustment…as they rededicate their productive efforts to the services of their own people rather than the service of exploiting masters”. The secretary of state states that aid will not be made contingent upon the introduction of any given social system. In his speech in Dallas he rules out the possibility of military aid from the part of the US and declares that the doctrine of massive retaliation cannot be employed in every situation. – Democratic presidential candidate Stevenson on Eisenhower’s policy: the US was “caught off guard” by the Polish and Hungarian events in contrast to the Republican claim that the Hungarian and Polish events are evidently “a clear-result of the new US foreign policy”. – October 28. At the recommendation of the US, France and Great Britain, the UN Security Council inscribes the Hungarian situation. October 31. Eisenhower’s televised speech reflects on the previous day’s Soviet announcement that the USSR is considering pulling out its troops from Hungary, Poland and Romania. “If the Soviet Union does indeed faithfully acts upon its announced intention, the world will witness the greatest forward stride toward justice, trust and understanding among nations in our generation.” – November 1. Eisenhower declares that the US has no desire to profit militarily or economically from the Hungarian and the Polish events. – November 2. Eisenhower offers 20 million dollars in aid to Hungary.

November 3. American UN representative Cabot Lodge introduces a draft resolution in the Security Council: the Soviet Union should refrain from intervening in Hungarian affairs. At US initiative, however, the draft resolution is not put to vote.

November 4. Soviet military intervention against Hungary. The USSR vetoes a US draft resolution in the UN Security Council, which would have called upon the UN General Secretary to organize an on the spot UN investigation of the Hungarian events.

November 8. Eisenhower announces that the US will admit 5000 Hungarian refugees without delay. ® January 1, 1957. – Bulganin’s response to Eisenhower’s message of November 4: the Soviet intervention belongs to the competence of the Soviet and the Hungarian governments.

November 10. Swiss proposal for a great power peace conference. The US rejects, Great Britain, France and the USSR accept the proposal.

January 1. Eisenhower permits the reception of Hungarian refugees above the announced quota of 21,500. (Until February 2 26,405 Hungarian refugees arrived in the US).® May 14, 1957.

January 10. Eisenhower’s state of the union address: “We are willing to enter any reliable agreement, which would reverse the trend towards more devastating nuclear weapons; reciprocally provide against the possibility of surprise attack…and make feasible a lower level of armament and armed forces….”

February 2. British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan announces that because of his duties he will not fulfill his predecessor, Eden’s pledge for a visit to Moscow.® April 20.

February 12. A committee of the UN General Assembly postpones the accreditation of the Kádár government’s representative.

February 19. CPSU first secretary N. S. Khrushchev’s interview to the New York Herald Tribune: The Soviet troops would be pulled back to Soviet territory from all the countries in Europe where they are stationed. Simultaneously the West European countries would withdraw their troops from foreign countries; the US would pull back its troops from Europe and Asia; all foreign bases would be liquidated. Khrushchev warns: there is no invulnerable territory on the globe and the Soviets are not behind in military technology. He urged the normalization of Soviet-American links and contact on the highest level.

February 27. The designated US minister to Budapest, Edward Wailes, is called home. Wailes arrived in Budapest on November 2, 1956, but did not present his credentials to the Kádár government. - March 7. Washington accuses the Hungarian government that the visitors of the US Legation are being “harassed and arrested”.

March 14. US Deputy Secretary of State Christian Herter announces upon his arrival to London that the US is ready to take the first steps towards arms reduction. – March 15. Soviet minister of defense Zhukov opines that in case of war the Soviet Union’s major striking capability would be its thermonuclear arsenal. A new war would mutually destroy both sides.

March 18. Soviet disarmament plan in the UN. Deputy foreign minister Zorin recommends the aerial and ground supervision of the armed forces. According to the Russian proposal, atomic weapons would be banned. – Eisenhower’s disarmament advisor, Harold Stassen agrees with the Soviet proposal to reduce the Soviet and American forces by 2.5 million each and the British and French by 750-750 thousand. According to Stassen the exchange of military plans and graduated arms reduction could lead to results in arms reduction within nine months.

March 21. The US gives four million dollars to facilitate the settlement of Hungarian refugees outside the United States.

April 9. The deputy of the US military attaché is expelled from Hungary due to charges of espionage.® May 30. – Senator Joseph McCarthy announces that he will support a law, which will make it possible for 75 thousand more Hungarian refugees to enter beyond the 30,906 people already admitted.

April 12. The UN Disarmament Subcommittee’s US representative, Harold Stassen proposes a disarmament plan: from 1958 the world’s fissionable material stock should be redirected to peaceful use and a nuclear supervisory organ should be established.

April 17. The US attorney general rejects a proposal put forward by a group of congressional representatives for the emigration 5 thousand Jewish refugees from Egypt. According to the attorney general the extension of immigration laws requires Congressional resolution with the exception of the Hungarians.

April 19. CPSU first secretary Khrushchev’s warning to the West: “Don’t try to test as you did in Hungary – with a putsch…Be careful! We are not saints and if necessary we can rap your knuckles.” – According to minister of defense Zhukov the Soviet Union is capable of retaliating any NATO measure. – Khrushchev warns Polish prime minister Cyrankiewicz that the US is wooing Poland “as a bride” in order to “to find a lever to use against the Soviet Union and socialism”. According to Khrushchev Poland is the Soviet Union’s best ally and the USSR’s defense capability is the best guarantee for Poland’s western boundaries, since a possible attack on Poland would be regarded as an attack on the Soviet Union.

April 20. Bulganin’s letter to British Prime Minister MacMillan. Bulganin wants MacMillan to renew Eden’s earlier proposal on the demilitarization of certain parts of Europe and the reduction of military forces in other parts of the continent. Bulganin would be willing to negotiate with Britain on the aerial control of demilitarization. – April 21. The Pravda’s article: If the West would withdraw its troops and liquidate its military bases, the Soviet Union would have “no need for Soviet troops to remain on the territories” of Poland, the GDR, Hungary and Romania.

April 22. Dulles renews the doctrine of the “liberation of the captive nations”, which was a pillar of the Eisenhower administration’s foreign policy. “We seek the liberation of the captive nations…not in order to encircle Russia with hostile forces but because peace is in jeopardy and freedom a word of mockery until the divided nations are reunited and the captive nations are set free.” “We revere and honor those who as martyrs gave their blood for freedom. But we do not ourselves incite violent revolt. Rather, we encourage an evolution to freedom.” The US proposes that the UN condemn the invasion against Hungary. When there is step toward independence, such as in the recent past in Poland, America is ready to respond with friendly deeds. “Let us see to it that the divided or captive nations know that they are not forgotten; that we shall never make a political settlement at their expense, and that a heartfelt welcome and opportunity await them as they gain more freedom.”

April 30. The Soviet Union puts forward the Soviet version of the “open skies” proposal, which envisions the aerial observation of territories of the US, the USSR, Western and Eastern Europe and China listed by the Soviet Union.

May 10. Interview from CPSU first secretary Khrushchev in the New York Times: the relationship of the US and the Soviet Union is the basic problem of the tension in international relations. If the Soviet Union agrees with the US in arms reduction it will also make an agreement with Britain and other powers. In spite of the ideological differences good neighborly relations can be established between the two states.

May 13. The US offers to the Soviet Union the revision of travel restrictions. – June 15. The Soviet Union rejects the American proposal to abolish travel restrictions.

May 14. Washington reveals that until the first of May 32,075 Hungarian refugees have settled in the US. The Presidential Committee for Hungarian Refugees terminates its mission. – The US places ten million dollars worth of agricultural products at Austria’s disposal for the use of the 35 thousand Hungarian refugees still in Austria. – The US renews Yugoslavia’s military assistance. The decision was made with Eisenhower’s consent. Yugoslavia receives 100 million dollars in aid, including 200 jet fighters.® February 3, 1958.

May 20. Bulganin’s note to French prime minister Guy Mollet: since both the USSR and France have been the victims of “aggressive German militarism” in the past and both are powers that are “particularly interested” in European security, they should start bilateral talks on disarmament. Bulganin’s proposals: non-aggression treaty between NATO and the Warsaw Pact; the parallel reduction of Soviet and American forces; the establishment of an arms limitation and control zone in Central Europe, including Germany; the reduction of conventional forces and the immediate ban on the accumulation and production of nuclear arms. Bulganin expresses his anxiety that France is deploying American nuclear weapons. – June 8. Mollet rejects Bulganin’s offer on bilateral French-Soviet disarmament talks.

May 30. The US expels the deputy of the Hungarian military attaché in response to Hungary having expelled the US military attaché.

June 2. Khrushchev’s interview on US television: if the West (including the US) pulls back its forces from the FRG and other parts of Western Europe, the Soviet Union will withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe. On Hungary: “the Kádár regime, which is the people’s regime in Hungary will flourish for ages to come. Where the working class has won power it will not yield that power to the exploiters.”

June 7. The US and Poland sign a 95 million dollar commercial agreement. The two governments agree to start talks on the liberation of Polish assets originating from the period prior to World War II that are frozen in the United States and about US claims on assets nationalized in Poland. – Vice President Nixon: the Polish loan is a risk worth taking in the hope that Poland will turn its back on communism. According to Nixon the agreement signifies to the world that the Polish people are not forgotten, nor are the millions of others who are behind the iron curtain.

June 8. The leader of the Republican caucus of the Senate, William F. Knowland calls on Dulles to react to Khrushchev’s speech on US television. In this the Soviet leader offered to pull out from Hungary. The senator suggests that the US withdraw from Norway in return for Russian withdrawal from Hungary. This exchange would be the first step in the “country-for-country” Soviet-American withdrawal process. – June 11. Dulles rejects the Knowland plan.

June 15. British Prime Minister MacMillan’s letter to Bulganin: the precondition of the relaxation of East-West tension is full disarmament and simultaneously the political settlements. The chief sources of East-West tension: the political division of Europe and Germany, Soviet policy in the Middle-East, Hungary’s Soviet oppression.

July 24. According to an Inturist report in 1956, 487 thousand foreigners arrived to the USSR from 84 countries and 584 thousand Soviets visited 61 countries, 416 thousand on business, 44 thousand as tourists. According to the report 2500 Americans went to the Soviet Union and only 350 Russians went to the US.

August 16. In a note the US recommends to the Soviet Union that the two countries exchange television and radio experts from September. According to the note this would be the first step towards the “regular, uncensored and mutual” exchange of television and radio programs.

August 26. The Soviet government officially announces that in the past days a successful experiment was carried out with an ICBM. - The US had not yet made a successful experiment. According to the US secretary of defense the announcement was not unexpected and admitted that the Soviet Union achieved significant success in the field of ICBMs. – August 27. J. F. Dulles opines that the Soviet achievement does not upset the military balance between the US and the Soviet Union.® September 18, 1957.

August 28. Eisenhower calls on the Soviet Union to continue the disarmament talks. He notes that the rejection of the Western proposals coincided with the announcement that the Soviet Union made significant progress in the development of weapons of mass destruction.

August 29. At the London conference of the UN Disarmament Subcommittee the US, Canada, France and Great Britain table the West’s general proposal for the first step in East-West disarmament, which deals with the reduction of nuclear and conventional arms. Main points: in the first step Soviet and American armed forces would be reduced to 2.5 million, later to 1.7 million. The French and the British armies would be reduced to 350 thousand each. The four powers would place under international control a given quantity of the various kinds of weapons on their territory. The US, Britain, France and the USSR would put at the disposal of an international committee the data concerning their military budgets and expenditures for the sake of international control. All sides will oblige themselves not to use nuclear weapons in response to an attack. Fissionable material would in the future be used for peaceful purposes under international control. If an agreement is made, nuclear tests would be suspended for a year. After the agreement comes into force a committee would control that only peaceful scientific rockets would be launched into the stratosphere. International control systems would be installed so as to protect against a surprise attack. The proposal on ground and aerial control zones is renewed: an international organ under UN auspices would supervise the treaty. – August 29. Moscow rejects the proposal.

August 30. The Soviet Union opens five, hitherto closed cities for foreign visitors (Uzhgorod, Lvov, Chernovtsi, Irkutsk, Riga) and is willing to negotiate with the US on the basis of reciprocity on the relaxation of travel restrictions applying to diplomats. At the same time, along the Chinese frontier it closes for Western tourists 210 square miles of territory in Soviet Asia – Frunze, Alma Ata, parts of Kazakhstan and Kirgizia, as well as areas around Leningrad and Moscow.

September 3. The US presents a draft proposal in the UN, which repeatedly condemns the Soviet Union for crushing the 1956 Hungarian revolution. It calls on the Soviet and the Hungarian governments to put an end to reprisals against the Hungarian people and proposes the inscription of the Hungarian question at the 12^th General Assembly of the UN.

September 6. The London conference of the UN Disarmament Subcommittee ends.

September 8. US delegate in the UN Cabot-Lodge’s televised speech: Hungary will sooner or later regain its freedom and the UN’s resolution will contribute to this. He assured the Soviet Union that his country “ has never thought that a free Hungary…should have other than neutral foreign policy, or that it should be brought into any military alliances with the West”. – September 10. A UN resolution calls on the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops from Hungary, to allow UN observers into Hungary, where free general elections should be held. – September 14. The Special Session of the UN GA is convened on Hungary. It condemns the Soviet Union for the 1956 intervention in Hungary. It calls on the Soviet Union and Hungary for their governments “to refrain from oppressive measures against the Hungarian people”. According to the resolution the Soviet Union deprived Hungary of its freedom and the Hungarian people of the exercise of its basic rights; the present Hungarian regime was imposed on the Hungarian people by [the Soviet Union’s] armed intervention; the Soviet Union carried out mass deportations in Hungary and violated the Geneva convention of 1949; the present Hungarian government is violating the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Paris peace treaty”. – The resolution appoints Prince Wan Waithayakon of Thailand as the UN’s observer. Hungary denies Wan access to Hungary.

September 18. Paper by Secretary of State J. F. Dulles on US security policy: the doctrine of massive retaliation became obsolete with the appearance of tactical nuclear weapons. In case of a conventional attack there is no longer need to use the full striking power, mobile tactical nuclear weapons will be enough to stave off an attack if regional defense systems are installed. (The US gave up the doctrine of massive retaliation because the Soviet Union became capable of delivering ballistic rockets to US territory, hence the above doctrine lost its credibility. It was hardly conceivable that the US leadership would retaliate with strategic nuclear weapons a Soviet attack in e.g. South East Asia, thus prostrating US territory to Soviet nuclear attack).

October 5. The Soviet Union announces that its first artificial satellite launched (Sputnik). The weight of the satellite is 83.6 kilos. – Opinions: According to Senator Jackson the launching of the satellite dealt a devastating blow to the prestige of the US as the world’s leading scientific and technological power. – Senator Bridges: it is time to be less “concerned with the depth of the pile on the new broadloom rug or the height of the tail fin on the new car and to be more prepared to shed blood, sweat and tears if this country and the free world are to survive”. ® December 1957.

October 7. In an interview to the New York Times Khrushchev asserts that he is willing to place the satellites and the rockets under international control in the framework of a Soviet-American agreement. – October 8. The US secretary of state agrees with the idea of international control, but not in the framework of a bilateral Soviet-American agreement. According to Dulles the launching of the Sputnik is “a great scientific achievement,” but means only a propaganda advantage to the Russians. – October 9. After preliminary consultations Eisenhower congratulates the Russian scientists on Sputnik, but does not think that US security diminished even by an iota.

October 12. It is announced that one third of the US strategic airforce is on constant alert, the planes are standing on the runways loaded with bombs, the crew is close to the aircrafts. – October 19. The secretary of state states that the US wishes to deploy IRBMs in Europe. According to the secretary of defense the rockets will be shipped for Britain from mid-1959.® December 20, 1957.

October 22. It is announced that the US military research and development budget is raised from 1.58 to 1.68 billion dollars.

October 23.-25. At the Washington meeting of British Prime Minister MacMillan and President Eisenhower an agreement is reached to establish British-American committees in order to work out coordinated policies for defense, nuclear and rocket programs. According to the two Western leaders because of the political, military and psychological challenge posed by the Sputnik the West must unite resources.

November 6. Khrushchev proposes a high level East-West meeting on peaceful coexistence. – November 8. Both the US and Great Britain reject the proposal for an East-West summit.® December 12, 1957.

November 7. The US President announces that steps will be taken to overcome American disadvantages in the sciences relating to defense. The President identifies the causes of US lag in that insufficient significance was attributed to the education of sciences on secondary or higher level – November 10. According to the US department of education the Soviet school system is better than the American in science, technology and other areas as well. The requirements for Soviet students are higher, they seek out talents and give them excellent opportunities for development.® December 30, 1957.

November 22. According to the French minister of defense the present Anglo-American nuclear plans preserve the Anglo-Saxon atomic monopoly. Chaban-Delmas declares that France must launch its own nuclear arms program in order to avert the elimination of France’s status as a world power.

December 6. The US carries out an unsuccessful sputnik test. According to Lyndon B. Johnson the failure is one of the most publicized, most humiliating failures in US history.® January 31, 1958.

December 12. Soviet premier Bulganin proposes an East-West summit for the purpose of a general European settlement and arms reduction and urges the demilitarization of Central Europe. – A day earlier Khrushchev in a letter to the British philosopher Bertrand Russel proposed an East-West summit. The Soviet politician addressed a similar letter to Eisenhower.

December 16-19. At the Paris conference of NATO leaders a basic agreement is made on the establishment of a NATO nuclear missile arsenal and the closer political cooperation of the member states. – December 21. Soviet minister of foreign affairs Andrei Gromyko rejects NATO’s proposal to renew the East-West disarmament talks. Gromyko’s counter-proposal: talks at the UN General Assembly or a world conference, including all communist and non-communist states. – Khrushchev proposes Soviet-American discussions prior to the world conference.

December 20. The House of Commons supports MacMillan’s foreign policy and approves the establishment of IRBM bases in Great Britain. MacMillan assures the Parliament that Britain has full veto rights on the activation of IRBMs to be deployed on British soil. – December 27. The French prime minister urges an East-West summit in an interview given to a US paper. – December 31. The British government rejects the Soviet proposal for an East-West summit.

December 30. US President Eisenhower approves a one billion dollar four-year federal aid for education in order to satisfy the needs of national security in the forthcoming years.

January 3. According to State Department report the USSR and China granted 1.9 billion dollars in aid to developing countries between 1953 and 1957.

January 5. Polish foreign minister Adam Rapacki states in an interview given to a British paper that Poland would be willing to negotiate on a nuclear free zone in Central Europe. – January 6. The USSR announces a force reduction of 300 thousand, 41 thousand of which involves troops stationed in the GDR. – January 9. Bulganin raises the idea of a summit once more. He urges the creation of a nuclear free zone in Central Europe, rejects talks on the foreign minister level and welcomes MacMillan’s proposal of January 4 on an East-West non-aggression treaty. He offers the introduction of an “open skies” arrangement on both sides of the East-West frontier in a depth of 500-500 miles.

January 12. The US President announces that he is willing to meet the Soviet leaders to clarify East-West issues. According to Eisenhower it is not worth negotiating on a ban on Anglo-Soviet-American nuclear arms, a two-three year nuclear test ban or the creation of a nuclear free zone in Central Europe since with the radius of contemporary arms to declare a small area nuclear-free has little significance. He does not see it worthwhile to negotiate an East-West non-aggression treaty either. Eisenhower calls on the USSR to agree to a summit where Eastern Europe and the violation of the Yalta agreement would be discussed.

January 22. The first secretary of the CPSU’s speech in Minsk: the USSR is willing to negotiate on banning ICBMs if the West agrees to ban nuclear tests and liquidates its bases surrounding the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. – January 27. A Soviet-American agreement is signed in Washington on an expanded cultural, educational technological and sports exchange program. The program is expected to result in the exchange of 500-500 Soviets and Americans in 1958. The agreement does not contain the Soviet pledge to cease jamming radio programs, the uncensored broadcast of US television and radio programs on Soviet channels and the lifting of travel restrictions in the USSR. The US did not consent to launching direct Soviet-American flights, the relaxation of travel restrictions and the reception of large trade delegations.

January 31. The US launches its first artificial satellite.

February 3. The Soviet Union announces that it is willing to prepare the summit through diplomatic channels. – A US-Yugoslav agreement is signed in the framework of which Yugoslavia will be able to purchase 62 million dollars worth of US surplus wheat, cotton and edible oil for dinars. 50% of the value of the dinars will be redirected to Yugoslavia in the form of aid. The agreement raised the value of US aid to Yugoslavia to 750 million dollars. Out of this 385 million served defense purposes the rest was given as aid to buy food. This does not include the one billion dollars of military aid. – February 5. A State Department spokesman revealed that in the past two years it left three Bulgarian requests for the restoration of diplomatic relations unanswered and will disregard them till the charges against the former US minister in Bulgaria are dropped.® March 27, 1959. – February 12. According to US Secretary of Commerce Weeks, the US export to Poland in the first nine months of 1957 climbed from 3.7 million dollars in 1956 to 28.9 million dollars. The total US export to Eastern Europe and the USSR was 40.7 million dollars between January and September 1957 as compared to 11.2 million in 1956.

February 13. According to a British White Book, Great Britain would retaliate against any, even conventional, Soviet attack on Western Europe with strategic hydrogen bombs. According to the British this would preclude the danger of a new “Korea” in Europe.

February 15. Presidential special disarmament advisor Harold Stassen resigns. Stassen disagreed with Dulles’s unrealistically inflexible stance on the question of compromise disarmament. – The US and Poland sign an agreement on a USD 98 million aid program. Accordingly Poland may purchase 23 million dollars worth of US agricultural surplus for zlotys and will obtain 25 million dollars in aid from Eisenhower’s special fund for medical instruments and machines suitable to manufacture consumer goods.® June 10, 1959.

February 19. The so-called Rapacki plan is revealed. In this Poland describes its plan relating to creating a nuclear free zone – Zone A – in Central Europe. The countries involved: the GDR, Czechoslovakia, the FRG.® May 3, 1958.

March 6. The US insists that the conference of foreign ministers preparing the summit should discuss issues of significance in contrast to the Soviet wish to remove certain items from the agenda. He rejects the peace treaty to be signed by the two German states and the ensuing bilateral conference on unification and calls on the USSR to discuss the German question and the foreign interference in Eastern Europe. – March 7. Letter by Soviet prime minister Bulganin to Eisenhower: the USSR will not negotiate on German unification and the Soviet position in Eastern Europe. – March 12. CPSU first secretary Khrushchev offers to travel to the US for the summit, since he is aware that under certain circumstance the President of the US has a hard time leaving the country.

April 5. Khrushchev’s speech in Sztálinváros. You “must not again depend on the Russians coming to your assistance in the event of another counter-revolution.” “You must help yourselves and must be so tough that the enemy will always be aware that the Hungarian working class will not waver for a single instant.” – April 8. From Khrushchev’s speech in Tatabánya: if the anti communists “attempt a putsch or counter-revolution in any socialist country,” “the armed forces of the other socialist countries and the armed forces of the Soviet Union are always ready to unite, to provide help and to answer the provocation.”

April 11. According to a proposal by the Soviet government the USSR, France, Great Britain and the US would start diplomatic negotiations on April 17 to prepare a conference of foreign ministers to be held in May. The summit cannot be made dependent on the success of the foreign ministers’ conference. – April 15. Eisenhower announces his readiness to participate in a summit. – April 16. The Western powers accept the Soviet proposal for diplomatic talks to prepare the foreign ministers’ conference. – April 18. The Soviet Union accuses the US that American bombers armed with nuclear bombs flew over polar areas towards the Soviet Union on several occasions. – The US denies making provocative flights in the vicinity of the Soviet Union.

May 3. The US rejects the Rapacki plan, because on one hand it is too narrow to diminish the danger of an atomic war or to provide a lasting base for European peace and on the other it fails to address the basic question of making nuclear arms or with the issue that contemporary technology is incapable of showing nuclear weapons; does not deal with the powers capable of launching a nuclear attack (the US, the USSR, Britain); would preserve the basic source of European tension by accepting German division; the designated area would menace Western European security because of the Soviet Union’s huge armed forces which are deployed over a large area. – May 19. Great Britain rejects the Rapacki plan. In Britain’s view the plan’s realization would endanger Western security because of the Soviet superiority in conventional forces in Central Europe.® November 4, 1958; February 21.-27, 1967.

May 27. It is announced in Moscow that the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact will be reduced by 419 thousand in the current year.

June 3. In a letter to Eisenhower Khrushchev urges the increase of Soviet-American trade to several billion dollars annually and asks for a long term US loan for Moscow to be able to purchase industrial equipment. Khrushchev admitted that the difference between the large amount of US equipment required by the USSR and the smaller amount of Soviet raw materials wanted by the US will necessitate a US loan. He declared that the USSR is not asking for American machinery which could be used for military purposes and hence fall under the prohibition of the Battle Act. Khrushchev’s shopping list includes synthetic materials, machinery needed to manufacture chemicals, plastics and textiles, machines for the lumber and paper industry, equipment for pipes and rolling mills as well as medical instruments. Khrushchev offers manganese, chrome, platinum, steel alloys, potassium salts, asbestos, cellulose, lumber, paper and fur. – June 4. According to US officials the listed items’ export to the USSR is not prohibited but the loan would violate the spirit of the Battle Act. – June 10. Dulles rejects Khrushchev’s offer, which in his view is an attempt of the USSR to cover anti-American economic warfare from US funds.® November 12, 1958.

June 17. The US protests against the execution of Pál Maléter and Imre Nagy. According to the State Department the execution of the Hungarian rebel leaders “is a shocking act of cruelty”. In the State Department’s view the Soviet Union “must bear fundamental responsibility for this latest crime against the Hungarian people and all humanity.” – In Dulles’s view the execution is “another step in the reversion toward the brutal terrorist methods which prevailed under Stalin” and were meant as a warning for the Yugoslav leaders currently under attack for deviationism. – June 18. According to US President Eisenhower the execution of Maléter and Nagy staggered the civilized world and is clear proof that the USSR still uses “terror and intimidation” to “bring about complete subservience” of its opponents. According to the President the executions were carried out at Soviet orders and tells journalists that they constitute a “very serious obstacle” to effective negotiations for an East-West summit. – June 19. In the House of Commons the British prime minister called the Hungarian executions “most tragic” but opined that they must not dissuade the West from negotiating with the Soviet Union. – The US congress condemned the executions in a formal resolution. – The US wants to convene the special Hungarian committee of the UN.

July 1. In Geneva East-West talks between experts start on the possibility of suspending nuclear tests.

July 2. Responding to Khrushchev’s letter of June 11 President Eisenhower rejects the Soviet claim that the US is procrastinating the summit. The President accuses the Soviet Union of interfering with the preparatory talks in Moscow by unilaterally publishing the documents of the talks.

July 26. The Bucharest radio announces that the Soviet occupational forces the size of which was estimated at 30-40 thousand have concluded their withdrawal from Romania.

August 15. US singer Paul Robson is received in Moscow by Soviet minister of cultural affairs Mihailov. – August 16. According to a report by the State Department ca. 400 Soviet citizens visited the US in the framework of the 1958 Soviet-American cultural treaty.

August 22. The US, Great Britain and France in notes with the same wording call on the USSR to renew diplomatic links serving to prepare the summit. The Western notes came in response to a Soviet proposal of July 15 for an East-West treaty of friendship.

October 18. The US and Poland sign an agreement on opening the Polish consulates in Chicago and the US one in Poznan.

October 31. The US-Soviet-British atomic test ban talks start in Geneva.

November 4. The Rapacki plan is renewed. The new proposal is meant to avert the criticism that the elimination of nuclear defense would open the West to a Soviet attack on land. The two step plan would first freeze the nuclear reserves and bases on the present level. Nuclear arms deployed in Central Europe would be liquidated in the second step. – November 5. According to Soviet UN representative Zorin the USSR is unwilling to accept a regime of international control in return for the West’s acceptance of the Soviet proposal for a nuclear test ban treaty.

November 8. According to the figures given by the US department of commerce in the third quarter of 1958 licenses were issued for 2.8 million dollars worth of goods destined for Eastern Europe and the USSR.

November 12. The US permits the export of some medicines (penicillin products) to the USSR and Eastern Europe. Shipments of inoculation against poliomyelitis and influenza had been permitted earlier.

November 17.-December 5. East-West talks in Geneva begin on precluding surprise attacks. The USSR wishes to extend the talks to matters of arms reduction and political affairs, while the West wants to assess the possibilities of avoiding surprise attacks from a technical perspective.® December 18, 1958.

November 21. The US government declares to Hungary that the reestablishment of normal US-Hungarian diplomatic relations depends “primarily and basically upon the Hungarian government’s willingness to live up to its international obligations”. According to the US,the Soviet Union “in 1956 committed an act of massive armed aggression against the Hungarian people”.

December 18. The East-West talks in Geneva on surprise nuclear attacks fail and close. The Soviet Union regards international observation as a “Trojan Horse” and they are unable to agree either on the agenda or the necessary conditions for the establishment of a system of inspection. – The State Department announces that the Soviet deputy prime minister will visit the US the next year. His visa application was approved by Secretary of State Dulles, who is willing to conduct unofficial talks with Mikoyan.® January 4, 1959.

December 22. A Yugoslav-American treaty is signed on the sale of agricultural products worth USD 94.8 million to Yugoslavia. An agreement is made on a USD 10 million US aid and a 22,5 million dollar loan to complete an artificial fertilizer plant in Yugoslavia.

January 4. Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Mikoyan arrives in New York where he meets the secretary of state. Mikoyan states that the USSR has no aggressive designs against the US but hopes for a peaceful East-West competition; the Soviet Union feels threatened because of the USA’s overseas bases. – January 17. Meeting between Mikoyan and Eisenhower. They discuss Berlin, Germany, disarmament and questions of trade. There was no new proposal on either issue and no agreements were concluded. – January 19. Mikoyan’s talks with US Undersecretary of State Dillon and Secretary of Commerce Lewis L. Lewis on the development of Soviet-American trade. The Soviet politician urged the lifting of American restrictions on trade with the Soviet Union particularly in the field of strategic items; most favored nation status and lower tariffs on Soviet goods; the elimination of restrictions on large loans for Soviet purchases. Dillon rejects Mikoyan’s proposals on the grounds that trade between the two states may develop in the field of non-strategic goods only and that according to American law no loans can be granted to states that are not paying their debts to the US (this referred to the Soviet debts of USD 800 million on lend-lease shipments in World War II).

January 27. Khrushchev’s speech: the USSR is willing to sign an arms reduction treaty with the West and halt the production and testing of nuclear arms and rockets; ready to establish a confrontation free zone based on the Rapacki plan and pull out from the GDR, Poland and Hungary in return for the withdrawal of NATO forces; he will urge German unification through talks between the two Germanies. The previous day Khrushchev talked about a thaw in East-West relations. – January 30. Report by Tass Soviet news agency: on January 1 the 300 thousand personnel reduction of the Soviet army was carried out. – January 31. Soviet deputy Prime Minister Mikoyan announces that the Soviet Union is ready to sign a commercial treaty with the US for 3.5 or seven years.® September 30, 1959.

January 31. The US again rejects the Hungarian government’s offer to normalize diplomatic relations. The State Department’s spokesman called the Hungarian note of January 28 “most hostile” and “insulting”. The chargé in Budapest, James W. Pratt opines that the Hungarian note threatens with reprisals in case the US does not comply with the wish to discuss restoration of relations between the two countries. – Hungary limits the activity of the US Legation in Budapest as it constitutes a “danger to the [Hungarian] state”.

February 5. Khrushchev invites the US President to the Soviet Union. At the same time he accuses the US of readiness to sacrifice its allies for its own selfish interests. – February 10. President Eisenhower tells journalists that he is expecting a more formal and more convincing invitation than the one included in Khrushchev’s hostile speech. – It is announced in Great Britain that out of the 1959-1960 military budget, 22 billion pounds will be devoted to the development of Britain’s own nuclear striking force (Blue Streak program).

February 21. The British prime minister’s visit to Moscow. This is the first time a British premier visits the Soviet Union since the war. – March 3. MacMillan concludes his visit. He declares on British television: he agreed with Khrushchev in that Central Europe’s serious problems should be solved not through military force but negotiations.

March 2. The World Economy Committee of the US President urges the chief executive to think about trade with the Soviet bloc in non-strategic goods, because if trade with the Iron Curtain nations could be increased then perhaps “Soviet resources could be diverted from military potential to the production of consumer goods”.

March 11. France informs NATO that French navy units designated for the use of the alliance in war will remain under French command. The step is related to the aspiration by French President Charles de Gaulle that Paris should have a larger influence in NATO and to extend its guarantee to North Africa. – March 19. NATO commander-in-chief General Norstad does not think that France’s step means the end of the alliance.® July 8, 1959.

March 27. The governments of the US and Bulgaria announce the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, which were severed in 1950. Bulgaria revoked the charges of espionage brought against the former US minister in Sofia and pledged that the US mission would be able to operate without harassment.

May 6. According to a report by the New York Times the Soviet deputy minister of cultural affairs, who is staying in the US, requested the State Department to make possible a performance of the musical “My Fair Lady” in the Soviet Union.

May 11. The Geneva meeting of the foreign ministers of the US, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union where talks begin on German reunification, Berlin’s status and the problems of a German peace treaty.

May 24. A five-year Anglo-Soviet commercial agreement is signed in Moscow. In the first year of the contract the annual British export to the Soviet Union would be raised by one third from 57 million pounds, and the 30 million pound Soviet export to Britain by the same amount. The agreement would involve the exchange of machines, factories, textile, agricultural products and raw materials and for the first time the Anglo-Soviet exchange of consumer goods – cars, clothes, wine, medicine and shoes.

June 8. The French Foreign Ministry affirms that France will not undertake any more new NATO obligations until several problems are solved, including the deployment of atomic weapons in France. De Gaulle demands the setting up of an Anglo-French-American leading body within NATO and seeks assistance for the development and production of a French nuclear arsenal.® July 8, 1959.

June 10. A new Polish-American credit and loan agreement is signed in Washington, which reduces the amount of US aid to Warsaw by 50% as compared to the 1957-1958 level. According to the agreement Poland may purchase 44 million dollars worth of American agricultural products for zlotys. Poland gets a loan of six million dollars to buy anti-polio vaccine and to finance the delivery of the agricultural goods from overseas.

June 25. In a note the Soviet Union offers the US, France and Great Britain to create a nuclear free zone in the Balkans.® July 8, 1959.

June 28. Soviet first deputy premier Frol L. Kozlov arrives in New York to open a Soviet scientific, technological and cultural exhibition. – According to Khrushchev’s message, “The Soviet people are deeply convinced that differences in our way of life and in our political social systems should not be an obstacle to fruitful cooperation…between the Soviet Union and the United States.” According to Vice President Nixon not only the lack of understanding is forestalling peaceful and friendly relations and the summit will not solve the tensions of the world. Nixon stated: despite “basic conflicts of interest and deeply clashing ideologies” “patience and understanding” by US and Soviet leaders would prevent “those differences” from developing “into a conflict which would result in the destruction of our civilization.” – June 30. Kozlov-Eisenhower meeting. – July 1. – Kozlov meets Secretary of State Herter and Senate leaders. – July 2. Kozlov’s proposal: The Soviet Union will withdraw from the GDR, Poland, and Hungary if the West pulls out from the FRG and the rest of the Western allies.

June 29. British-Yugoslav trade agreement is signed in the framework of which Yugoslavia imports goods worth 36-42 million dollars and will deliver commodities in the value of 42-53 million dollars to England.

July 8. NATO withdraws 200 jet bombers from France and deploys them in Britain and the FRG. The reason: France rejected the deployment of nuclear forces on its own territory unless it received the right to decide on their employment.® November 3, 1959. – July 11. The Department of State rejects Khrushchev’s proposal concerning a nuclear free zone in the Balkans.

July 15. Khrushchev invites Eisenhower for a visit to the USSR. – July 21. Eisenhower declares that he lost hope regarding a summit with Khrushchev. He pledges not to use nuclear weapons against Eastern Europe, which are “despite all provocations” the “friends” of the US.

July 22. Vice President Nixon arrives to Moscow. – July 24. Televised debate between Nixon and Khrushchev. The debate was shown on Soviet television two days later, according to American judgment with inadequate translation. – August 1. Nixon’s televised farewell address: he condemns the idea of “peaceful coexistence” since it reinforces the division of the world into two hostile blocs.

August 2. Nixon arrives in Warsaw. – August 3. Nixon meets Polish party first secretary Gomulka.

August 16. French prime minister Michel Debré warns that his country will make its voice heard and will not allow the agreement of the great powers to crush it. – The AFL-CIO announces a boycott for the period of Khrushchev’s planned visit.

August 25. Nixon concedes that “a major objection” to Eisenhower’s visit to Moscow is “the effect it may have on the captive peoples of Eastern Europe”. He pledged Eisenhower “will not be taken in or bluffed” at the Khrushchev meeting and will continue to represent the cause of freedom “vigorously, firmly and aggressively”. He states: “you can be sure that under no circumstances will this exchange…result in [US] statements or actions…indicating our approval or acquiescence in the status of the captive peoples…We will continue to support with peaceful means realization of the objective that the [satellite] peoples …be given the opportunity to choose the kind of governments they want”. Nixon rejects the “so called war of liberation that would liberate only dead bodies and ruined cities”.

August 27. Eisenhower declares on Eastern Europe that under his presidency nobody in America will speak about stable peace before the East European peoples can give expression to their convictions, views and wishes on their own future.

August 30. In connection with his trip to the US, Khrushchev expresses his “burning desire” to make peace and his firm resolution to take the steps, which would melt the ice of the cold war. – August 31. The newly created Senate Freedom for all Nations Committee declares a week of mourning for the victims of communism during the Khrushchev visit.

September 3. Khrushchev’s conditions for peaceful coexistence: the West should give up the principle of rolling back communism; acceptance of the Soviet proposals for Germany and Berlin; the abolition of American trade restrictions against the Soviet Union. He condemns the congress’s resolution on the “liberation of captive nations” and defends the idea of peaceful coexistence.

September 15. Khrushchev arrives in Washington for a two week visit. He conducts a “friendly and frank” discussion with Eisenhower. Both underline their respective nation’s responsibility for peace. Khrushchev urges the German-German road to Germany’s unification and the increase of trade relations. – September 18. Khrushchev calls for disarmament: full military disarmament in four years; the liquidation of foreign bases; the liquidation of atomic and hydrogen weapons; only police units of limited size armed with small arms can remain in each country. Khrushchev offers a five-step disarmament plan in case the West rejects the proposal: the establishment of a control and observation zone on the territory of Western Europe with the reduction of foreign forces; nuclear free zone in Central Europe; the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Europe and the liquidation of military bases on foreign territory; non-aggression treaty between NATO and the Warsaw Pact; agreement on defense against surprise attacks. – September 17. Disarmament proposal by the West: test ban treaty; agreement among the great powers on the maximum size of armed forces; new talks on surprise attack, on the peaceful use of space and control; the reduction of conventional and nuclear arms; halting the production of nuclear arms, the reduction of nuclear arms stocks with the international control of fissionable material, guarantees against surprise attack, the establishment of an international system for maintaining peace; general disarmament under international supervision with a ban on the production and use of weapons of mass destruction, the liquidation of remaining nuclear arms stocks, the final reduction of armed forces to an internationally agreed level, the international supervision of military budgets, a global system to maintain peace.

September 26. Agreement on a Soviet-American medical research program. The agreement envisions research on cancer, cardiatric disease and poliomyelitis.

September 27. Khrushchev concludes US visit. Joint communiqué with President Eisenhower: all international problems need to be resolved with peaceful means; the talks on Berlin will resume so as to reach an acceptable solution to the parties involved for the sake of peace; disarmament is the most important issue, both sides will take constructive steps to solve the issue; Eisenhower’s planned visit for the Fall will take place next spring. – Khrushchev states that he is willing to have the summit anywhere; peace treaty must be signed with Germany, simultaneously with disarmament observation must develop; the “Soviet Union is not a colony but a great industrial power…so if there is any intention to sell [us] sausages or shoes…you would not find a market for those goods”. (…) “But we are prepared to develop trade with you to buy what we need…and that includes both industrial products and consumer goods”

September 30. Undersecretary of State Dillon announces that the Eisenhower administration will be willing to relax the US trade restrictions if there will be an agreement on Soviet World War II lend lease debts.

October 1. The US secretary of agriculture makes a visit to Moscow where he preaches in Moscow’s central Baptist church in front of 1500 people.

October 22. Statement by the State Department on the third anniversary of the Hungarian revolution: The uprising will “live in history as the symbol of a people’s sacrifice in the cause of independence”. - October 23. The US representative in the UN, Cabot-Lodge again demands that Hungary admit the UN representative responsible for Hungarian affairs, Sir Leslie Munro.

October 31. Khrushchev’s speech in the Supreme Soviet: the nations should make “mutual concessions” for the sake of peaceful coexistence. These concessions will not be of ideological nature or in matters of principle from the part of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is ready to accept partial disarmament with supervision; wants to achieve the ban of nuclear arms, first the nuclear test ban, the establishment of a control and observation zone and a nuclear free zone in Central Europe. - Lee Harvey Oswald, a marine, Kennedy’s future assassin, files for Soviet citizenship.® November 22, 1963.

November 3. French President De Gaulle in a speech at the Military Academy threatens to withdraw France from NATO’s integrated military organization and restores national command over French armed forces. If a nation is forced to fight a war it has to be its own war and must defend itself with its own means. De Gaulle warns that he cannot conceive a defense concept in which France “loses its identity”. The French President comes out in favor of developing a French nuclear force. – November 10. De Gaulle announces that the French force de frappe will contribute to global balance and will not upset the present nuclear balance. According to the President the French force will preclude the division of the world by the great powers. It is conceivable that one day Western Europe will be destroyed from Moscow and Central Europe from Washington, de Gaulle said. The President rejects joining the British-American-Soviet pledge to refrain from surface test explosions.® September 5, 1960.

November 18. The US Department of Commerce rejects pleas by several American companies for permission to export to the USSR 15.5 million dollars worth of stainless steel and 176 million dollars worth of chemicals. The decision was made under the embargo on the shipment of strategic goods to the Soviet Union. On the other hand the export of 5.6 million dollars worth of textile machinery received the green light.

November 24. A Soviet-American agreement is signed in Washington for a joint nuclear research program. According to the agreement scientists will be exchanged in the field of the peaceful use of atomic reactors and thermonuclear energy. The agreement allows for Soviet-American talks on the subject of nuclear research.

December 2. During his visit in Hungary Khrushchev admits in a speech given in the Ganz factory that some Soviet leaders opposed intervention in Hungary in 1956. - December 8. The US representative in the UN calls on the GA to demand of the Soviet and the Hungarian governments the termination of executions resulting from 1956.

December 21. US President Eisenhower communicates the Western powers’ manifesto for an East-West summit to be held in April 1960. – December 28. The USSR accepts the West’s proposal for the time and place of the summit.® May 16, 1960.

December 24. Soviet-American talks on Soviet lend lease debt are resumed® January 27, 1960. – December 28. Agreement is signed on the export to the Soviet Union of USD 20 million worth of textile machinery. – December 29. A British firm signs an agreement to build a sugar beet plant in the Soviet Union.

January 14. Khrushchev orders the reduction of Soviet armed forces by 1.2 million, from 3.6 million to 2.4 million. Khrushchev declares that the force reduction is made possible by the development of Soviet nuclear forces. According to the Soviet politician the airforce and the navy lost its previous significance, the airforce will be replaced by missile forces. Khrushchev opines that the forthcoming summit will reduce the danger of war.

January 27. Soviet-American talks in Washington on lend lease are broken off since the Soviet ambassador demands the extension of the talks to the questions of a Soviet-American trade agreement and long-term US loans to the Soviet Union. On behalf of the US negotiators Bohlen states that a trade agreement and loans require the changing of US laws and an agreement is needed on lend lease.

February 3. The US President announces that America is willing to sell atomic weapons to countries that stand by the US against the apparently aggressive intent of communism. – February 18. US secretary of state Herter proposes a disarmament system, which would eliminate the threat of accidental war.

February 13. France carries out a successful nuclear test explosion. – The Soviet Union condemns the event and declares that it makes the problem of disarmament more difficult.

February 20. A Soviet delegation comprising of five prime ministers of Soviet republics and seven oblast presidents concludes its US visit.

February 22. The US secretary of commerce permits US firms to hand over technological information to the USSR as part of commercial deals to build industrial plants.

March 15. The Geneva disarmament talks begin. The West puts forward a joint proposal. First step: The establishment of an international disarmament agency, which supervises the reduction of armed forces. The coordinated reduction of armed forces to 1.5 million men each by the United States and the Soviet Union, and to a proportionate level by the other powers; the national armed forces would be supervised by an international disarmament organization; the figures of national defense budgets would be placed at its disposal; the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in outer space would be precluded; the production of fissionable material for military purposes would be terminated; there would be measures against surprise attacks; an international organization would be created under UN auspices to avoid aggression, the agreement would be extended to other states. Second step: Appropriate measures against surprise attacks; the maximalization of armed forces for the US and the Soviet Union on 2.1 million and the stocking of the amount and types of weapons agreed upon. Third step: further reduction of armed forces at the level required by international security, so that no country or groups of countries could oppose international law. The ban and further reduction of nuclear arms, the use of fissionable material for peaceful purposes; the final liquidation of military missiles; the establishment of an international organization to supervise military expenditure; the final reduction of armed forces; the supervision of the production of all types of weapons. – March 21. Proposal by Soviet delegate Zorin, who suggests that the reduction of nuclear arms should take precedence over the reduction of conventional arms. (The Soviet Union opposes the three step Western plan because the size of the armed forces, 2.1 million, would be higher than the 1957 proposal (1.7 million); the participants would be able to withdraw the weapons from storage facilities found on their own territory; there is no concrete time frame for its realization. – March 19. Eisenhower assures Khrushchev that the US will not give nuclear arms to its allies. – The USSR proposes a limited test ban treaty. – March 29. The US and Great Britain accept the Soviet proposal for a test ban treaty.® April 12, 1960.

March 30. Romania and the US sign an agreement for the settlement of American private claims against Romania, which pays 24.5 million dollars. As a result of the treaty the Romanian private claims in the US are released.

April 1. Yugoslav-American treaty is signed on the peaceful use of atomic energy. The US provides Yugoslavia with a small nuclear test reactor. - May 5. The US gives Yugoslavia a 14.5 million dollar loan to purchase US made locomotives.

April 12. The Western powers agree on the agenda of the Geneva summit: disarmament and nuclear test ban treaty; Germany and Berlin; other East-West problems. – April 14. The West offers to terminate the production of atomic and hydrogen bombs and the international control of atomic bombs. – April 26. The disarmament principles of the West are revealed: disarmament is progressive, it is not tied to any time limit and starts with the simplest things. Conventional and nuclear disarmament is linked so that neither side can gain superiority. Disarmament must be controlled by an international organ tied to the UN, weapons must be banned from outer space, weapons of mass destruction and their delivery vehicles are to be banned. The West recommends the establishment of mobile supervising groups to control arms reduction. The groups comprised of Soviet and American observers would start their work immediately to control mutual troop reductions. – April 13. Great Britain announces that it is terminating its Blue Streak nuclear program because it could be launched from a stationary launch pad only. – April 14. The State Department reveals that the US is planning to sell mobile Polaris type IRBMs to England and other NATO states.® June 27, 1960.

May 1. A U-2 type US reconnaissance plane is shot down over the Soviet Union. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers is captured. Initially the US tried to deny the truth, later they admitted that the plane was performing military reconnaissance. – May 5. Khrushchev claims that the purpose of the mission was to torpedo the summit. – Khrushchev’s warning: the countries that permit reconnaissance planes to take off from their territories risk destruction by Soviet missiles. – May 10. The summit collapses on the opening day, since Eisenhower would not formally apologize for the U-2 incident, although it publicly suspended all U-2 flights. – The Soviet Union rejects the US explanation to the effect that the U-2 mission served defense and security objectives. – May 26. The UN security council rejects by a 7:2 vote the Soviet Union’s draft resolution to condemn the US for the U-2 incident. – May 27. At a Senate hearing Secretary of State Herter acknowledges that no separate decision was made to suspend the U-2 flights because of the upcoming summit. According to the US the Soviet Union is continuously spying – in 1959, 300 agents had to be expelled – at the same time it would not agree to an “open skies” agreement which would make spying redundant.® July 25, 1960.

June 2. The Soviet Union puts forward a new three step disarmament plan. Disarmament would be supervised by an international organ, the members of which would receive the right to veto certain issues. Disarmament would be controlled from the air and the ground, international observers would have to be allowed to visit any territory. In the first step the accumulation and production of nuclear weapons would be banned and nuclear arms delivery vehicles would be destroyed. The second phase would maximize the armed forces of the USSR and the US to 1.7 million, in the third step all armed forces except limited militias would be eliminated. – June 17. Critique of the Soviet plan: if in the first step nuclear arms would be liquidated, the withdrawal of US troops from Europe would upset the military balance and the small countries of Europe would be at the mercy of the Soviet Union.® June 27.

June 21. Prime minister Khrushchev’s speech at the Congress of the Romanian communist party: Contrary to Lenin’s statement war is not inevitable among present circumstances, the only way is peaceful coexistence.

June 25. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s report on the U-2 incident on the basis of the hearings: the US government, in view of the Soviet tradition of secrecy should have stopped the U-2 mission in view of the upcoming summit even though report came of “important information” (the committee was not informed of this); President Eisenhower made a mistake by taking responsibility for the incident when based on Khrushchev’s remarks he could have avoided it. Because of the U-2 incident the summit was canceled.

June 27. The Soviet Union unilaterally cancels the Geneva disarmament talks. The reason: the West did not consider seriously the Soviet disarmament proposal of June 2. The Soviet delegates and the East European participants left the meeting despite the fact that the Western side announced through informal channels that a new proposal would be presented in a couple of days.® March 14, 1961. – The new disarmament proposal is revealed, which places the main emphasis is on measures against surprise attacks, the annihilation of nuclear delivery vehicles and the strict supervision of all stages of disarmament. The compromise proposal aims at general and full disarmament, only an armed international contingent for peace supervision would remain.

July 11. The Soviet air defense shoots down an RB-47 type aircraft, which was allegedly performing air reconnaissance over Soviet territory. The US denies this and questions whether the plane strayed over Soviet territory. – July 12. Khrushchev’s war threat: The US is increasing international tension; it is threatening with war. He holds Eisenhower personally responsible, just like the British and the Norwegian prime ministers for providing the spy plane with bases. – The US announces: the plane was over international waters and never got 30 miles closer to Soviet waters. The plane was carrying out electromagnetic observations going on for ten years. – Britain announces it will discuss the question of bases with the US. – The democratic platform is announced in the US. According to this the US cannot live in armed camps with totalitarian ideologies. A lasting peace is needed in which the universal values of human dignity, the law secures justice. Therefore America’s military, political economic and moral strength must be restored. In the field of disarmament the banning of nuclear tests must be accomplished, outer space can be used for peaceful purposes only, the possibility of surprise attack and accidental war must be avoided. – For the captive nations: the US strives for lasting friendship with these nations, which penetrates deeper than ideology and politics and promotes a better world. The US wants better relations through personal, cultural, commercial and non-government links. – July 15: the Soviet Union’s note to the US: Moscow rejects the US claim according to which the US RB-47 was conducting legal experiments over the Barents Sea. – July 18. The American response: the USSR shot down the plane illegally and the crew’s release is demanded. – July 19. British prime minister MacMillan’s letter to Khrushchev: “due to mistakes or accidents we can all end up in a situation we cannot escape”. ® July 22, 1960.

July 16. In the course of twenty years Poland will pay 40 million dollars to compensate American citizens whose property was nationalized by the Polish government after the war. Poland starts talks on the compensation of American owners of 45 million dollars worth of bonds issued by the Polish government in the interwar years. The US releases one million dollars worth of Polish property frozen after World War II. – July 21. A Polish-American aid agreement is signed which envisions the sale of 130 million dollars of American agricultural commodities for zlotys. This included in the past four years the US sold 426 million dollars of agricultural goods to Poland.

July 22. Soviet UN representative Kuznetsov on the RB-47 incident: “this is not yet war, but preparation for war”. According to Kuznetsov England and Norway became “accomplices” by placing their bases at the US’s disposal. – July 25. According to Kuznetsov the RB-47 was obviously on an aggressive mission. – July 26. The UN security council rejects the Soviet draft proposal to condemn the US for performing intelligence flights over the USSR. At the same time the USSR vetoes the US proposal to investigate the incident on the spot and rejects an Italian proposal for the Red Cross to contact the American crew on a humanitarian basis. – UN representative Cabot-Lodge claims there is proof that a Soviet fighter wanted to force the RB-47, which was flying 50 miles north of the USSR to fly over Soviet territory and then at time different from the one signaled by the Soviet Union shot it from Soviet territory. According to Lodge the Soviet Union is carrying out extensive spying close to the American coast with specially equipped ships and planes.

August 1. The US rejects a Soviet proposal to continue disarmament talks within the UN. – August 16. The USSR rejects the US proposal for nuclear arms reduction, which recommended that the two powers hand over 30 thousand kilograms of U-235 for peaceful aims.

August 13. The State Department does not allow the Hungarian military attaché to return to the US after vacation. He is accused of wanting to acquire secret military information.

September 5. Speech by French President Charles de Gaulle on NATO: NATO will have to be changed in at least two respects: it must be extended to the Middle East and Africa, secondly, beside integration defense must receive a national dimension. According to the President it has to be founded on European cooperation and the “reality” of the nation state. – October 9. According to de Gaulle without an independent nuclear force France would not be a European power or sovereign state, only an integrated satellite.® November 22, 1960.

September 10. In a memorandum the US leadership informs the Soviet UN mission that in order to guarantee his personal security Khrushchev’s freedom of movement at his appearance at the UN General Assembly will be limited to New York City’s Manhattan district. According to the memorandum the problem of Khrushchev’s personal security is complicated by his hostile remarks and the shooting of an American plane over international waters. – Similar messages are delivered to the UN missions of Albania and Hungary, in which the personal movement of Mehmet Sehu and János Kádár is restricted. – September 13. The Soviet Union protests against the limitation of Khrushchev’s movement and deems it an intervention into the normal functioning of the Soviet UN mission, which calls into question the further operation of the international organ on American territory. – The State Department rejects the Soviet note.

September 22. The US President’s speech in the UN: the Geneva disarmament talks must be resumed, which must concentrate on accidental war and the growing number of nuclear weapons. The US is willing to stop producing fissionable material as soon as an international observation committee begins to operate; it is ready to place its nuclear materials under international control on a mutual basis. – Khrushchev’s speech: the US replaces international law with piracy and honest talks with perfidy. The USSR puts forward a new disarmament plan, which in many ways meets the Western proposal “half way”. The first phase resembles the one of June 2: it wishes to reduce the size of the armies to 1.7 million for the US and the Soviet Union, in contrast to the American proposal, which plans this reduction for the second phase. – October 13. Khrushchev’s farewell speech in the UN: he demands general and full disarmament, threatens to boycott the disarmament talks in case this aim is not accepted. Khrushchev warns: the Soviet Union will quit the political committee of the GA, the UN Disarmament Commission and the Geneva disarmament talks unless the political committee works out the principles of disarmament based on the Soviet proposal. Khrushchev threatens Britain: “the well-known…unsinkable aircraft carrier would cease to exist on the first day of… war”. – October 18. According to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy Eastern Europe is the “most vulnerable” spot of the Soviet Union, where the US could launch an offensive against communism. Kennedy criticizes the administration for not having forged a closer relationship with Poland and Hungary in 1955-1956. According to Kennedy the US must “identify with” the freedom aspirations of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. According to Kennedy, American strength diminished in the last year as compared to that of the communists.

October 1. Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy’s speech at the meeting of the Polish-American congress: it is the “task” of the US to help the satellites break away from the Soviet Union and “to pursue a policy of patiently encouraging freedom and carefully pressuring tyranny, a policy that looks toward evolution, not revolution – a policy that depends on peace, not war”. He calls the Republican doctrine of liberation an empty phrase.

November 22. The French National Assembly passes a law that includes de Gaulle’s plan to build an independent French nuclear force.® May 15, 1962.

December 9. An American-Romanian agreement is signed on exchange programs in science, industry, post-graduate studies, theater, cinema, sports and tourism.

December 16. At the Paris meeting of the NATO Council Secretary of State Herter offers five nuclear submarines armed with Polaris nuclear missiles for the establishment of a NATO nuclear force. He makes the offer contingent on whether NATO will accept a command system based on a consensus for the planned nuclear force and whether it will purchase 100 nuclear missiles for the member states.® May 8, 1961. – Although according to US law the US must retain control over the nuclear warheads given to NATO, it is the primary political aim of the US to station American nuclear weapons on NATO territory under American control in order to carry out the accepted defense plans. Herter proposed that NATO should begin to work out the multilateral control system of a nuclear force, which would provide common defense in the area of MRBMs. He stated that in order to set up an independent NATO nuclear force Congressional approval had to be sought for a law, which would make US participation possible. – December 13. Pravda calls the plan to set up an independent NATO nuclear force “a terrible plan” the aim of which is to increase the arms race and to arouse conflict in Central Europe.

December 27. Yugoslavia receives a 275 million dollar Western loan to launch its economic reform program. Yugoslavia reevaluates the dinar, introduces a new five-year-plan, reduces the state control of foreign trade, plans to join GATT and promotes competition within Yugoslav industry.

January 1. Soviet prime minister Khrushchev announces: the US people voted against Cold War when it elected Kennedy president. – January 6. The US proposes to the Soviet Union to start talks on the “partial relaxation” of travel controls involving each other’s citizens. – January 12. Eisenhower’s state of the union address: The US has contained “communist imperialism,” but the world problems created by communism continue to exist and threaten peace in Berlin, Cuba and Laos.

January 20. Prime minister Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev and party first secretary Khrushchev congratulate on the inauguration of President Kennedy and express their hope that “by joint efforts we shall be able to attain a radical improvement of relations between our countries”. Soviet leaders are confident that “moving step-by-step it is possible to remove the existing suspicion and distrust” between the USSR and the US. – Kennedy’s inauguration address: “Finally to those nations which would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed. By neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course – both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war.”

January 25. The Soviet Union releases the crew of the RB-47. The Soviet Union and the US affirm that neither country demands the payment of compensation. - February 8. The Kennedy administration begins the high level revision of US-Soviet relations after the ambassador in Moscow was called home to report.

May 8. At the Oslo meeting of the NATO Council Secretary of State Dean Rusk repeats the US offer to provide NATO with five Polaris submarines. His plan differs from the previous one. The submarines would be subordinated to NATO units which are under US command and which carry out NATO defense missions. The new plan does not contain the original proposal on the submarines’ joint NATO command nor the one hundred missiles Europe was supposed to purchase and use.® May 5, 1962. – The rethinking of nuclear doctrine is announced: the conventional forces of NATO will be significantly raised so that NATO could be able to repel a non-nuclear attack with conventional forces; a decision is made not to use nuclear arms until the Soviet conventional attack can be contained by similar NATO forces.

May 21. The US secretary of commerce Luther H. Hodges announces that American export to the East bloc went up from 89.3 million dollars in 1959 to 193.4 million dollars in 1960, the highest value for 13 years. The US import from these countries in 1960 remained on the previous year’s level of 80.9 million dollars. Almost 75% of the export went to Poland, the large part of the rest to the USSR.

June 3.-4. US President Kennedy and Soviet party first secretary Khrushchev meet in Vienna. In the course of the talks they review nuclear tests, disarmament and the question of Germany.

June 12. A Soviet disarmament proposal is put forward in Geneva. The Soviet Union does not accept the international observation of atomic tests without the right of veto, but aims for general and full disarmament.

June 15. The US expels a member of the Czechoslovak UN mission. The charge: espionage. - October 3. The US expels the third secretary of the Czechoslovak embassy in Washington. This is in response to the fact that the second secretary of the US embassy in Prague was expelled.

July 1. The US department of agriculture announces that Yugoslavia is buying 33.6 million dollars worth of agricultural commodities from the US for its own currency.® April 21, 1962.

July 8. Khrushchev halts Soviet troop reductions and raises military expenditures by 25%. The reason: the East-West crisis around the German question and the status of Berlin. – July 25. US President Kennedy announces that America will defend Berlin even at the cost of force. – July 26. The US President asks Congress to call in the reserves. – August 7. Khrushchev once again threatens to sign a separate peace treaty with the GDR, which would terminate the West’s occupation rights in Berlin. – August 13. The eastern part of Berlin is closed off in order to avert the further migration of its inhabitants to West Berlin. The construction of the Berlin wall begins. The USA accuses the USSR of breaking the 1949 Paris agreement. – August 15. Formal British-French-American protest is given to the Soviet command in Berlin. – August 27. Because of the Berlin crisis France deploys troops from Algeria to France.

July 11.-16. Soviet cosmonaut Yurii Gagarin’s visit to Britain. He is received by the British foreign secretary and the Queen.

September 7. Khrushchev announces that he is ready to meet Kennedy to solve the outstanding international problems. He warns that the USSR would not renounce the first use of the A bomb; in case of aggression the Soviet Union would defend Yugoslavia. He proposes the signing of peace treaties with the two German states. – September 25. The US President states in the UN: the United States is ready to fulfill its obligations in Berlin “with any means”. – The new US disarmament program: test ban treaty before the disarmament talks; terminating the production of fissionable materials for military use and stopping other countries from acquiring fissionable materials; nuclear non-proliferation agreement; the preservation of outer space from nuclear arms; gradual disarmament and the transformation of existing nuclear arms for peaceful use; cessation of production and testing of nuclear delivery vehicles and their gradual liquidation.

October 13. At an NSC meeting Kennedy stated that the US must reevaluate its relations with Yugoslavia. This came when Congress attacked the sale of 13 fighter planes to Belgrade. According to the Pentagon the sale is in the best interest of the US, since Yugoslavia is denying strategically important territory to the USSR in South-East Europe. – November 23. The US embassy in Belgrade informs the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry that the US is willing to negotiate the sale of further agricultural products to Yugoslavia. The sale of 500 thousand tons of grain has been already agreed upon, Yugoslavia wants one million tons more.

November 21. The London based Institute for Strategic Studies reports that the Western powers are superior to the Soviet bloc in almost all important indicators of military strength. The estimated data for 1962:

November 28. On the first and the second page Izvestia publishes without comment the interview given by Kennedy to the paper’s editor-in-chief. According to the State Department the text is distorted. – Secretary of State Dean Rusk expresses hope in the continuation of East-West talks. In his view East-West talks must involve four points: arms control, particularly agreements to prevent of “war by accident or miscalculation”; resolution of “ specific crises which reached the point of clear and present danger”; prevention of “future crises” by “continuous communication between ourselves and the communists”; mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of health, science space research and atomic energy. – November 29. According to Kennedy there can be no harmonic relationship between the two blocs until the German and the Berlin questions are solved.® March 11, 1962.

January 11.-23. Kennedy’s state of the union address: the US continues to support nations in choosing their own futures, political systems if it does not violate the rights of others. America’s military position is continually improving but its strength is put to trial on several levels and must be prepared to meet a conventional attack with conventional forces. – Kennedy expresses his concern about the conclusion of a report on scientist training in the Soviet Union and asks the Scientific Advisory Committee to make recommendations for the society’s complex need for the necessary amount of well-trained scientists and engineers.

January 30. US President Kennedy negotiates with the editor-in-chief of Izvestia, Khrushchev’s son in law Adzubei in the White House. Kennedy confides that he is aware of Adzubei’s special relationship with Khrushchev and calls the talks frank.

February 13. The West rejects Khrushchev’s plan for the forthcoming Geneva talks on the highest level but they are willing to raise the talks to the foreign minister level. The talks would be pursued on a higher level if they promise success. – February 21. Khrushchev sends another note in which he renews his demand to hold the Geneva talks on the prime ministerial or head of state level in even stronger wording. – February 24.-25. Kennedy and Khrushchev reject Khrushchev’s demands for the Geneva talks again.

February 21. In a letter Khrushchev offers for the US and the USSR to discover space together, with the pooling of scientific, technical and material resources. In his response the President welcomes Khrushchev’s proposal for Soviet-American cooperation in space research. Kennedy informs Khrushchev that he will give the appropriate instructions to responsible officials to prepare new and concrete proposals for the immediate plans of cooperation. – March 7. Kennedy proposes a five-point plan for cooperation in space research to the Soviet Union.

March 5. France announces that it does not wish to participate in the Geneva arms reduction talks, since it sees no point in sending representatives to a conference where there is no hope of a solution.

March 8. An agreement for a two-year Soviet-American scientific-cultural exchange program is signed. – An agreement is made on the production of a Soviet-American movie. – May 30. The first concert of Benny Goodman’s seven week tour of the Soviet Union in Moscow. – July 6. The State Department lifts strict travel restrictions for Soviet tourists and the participants of exchange programs.

March 11. East-West talks on the foreign minister level begin in Geneva on Berlin, disarmament and the ban of nuclear tests. Participants: Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko, British Foreign Secretary Home and Secretary of State Rusk.

March 14. With the participation of 17 nations a disarmament conference begins in Geneva. Originally 18 countries were meant to take part, but France failed to send a representative. According to the Soviet proposal national armed forces should be liquidated in four years. – According to the US plan nuclear vehicles should be reduced by 30% in three years; the Soviet Union should each divert 50 thousand kilograms of fissionable material for peaceful use; measures to reduce the risk of war by accident, miscalculation, surprise attack, or communication problems; working out acceptable methods to forestall violation of the disarmament agreement. The US wants to inspect all phases of the troop and arms reduction, just like the number of the remaining troops and weapons. The USSR rejects the inspection of remaining troops. – The US wants to control disarmament with the aid of an international organization, which would be led by a committee comprising of many nations and would be administered by an executive body. The Soviet Union wants to see the participation of three nations (troika principle) in the control organ, wants a two-thirds majority in voting and wants veto rights through the UN. – The US wants a 2.1 million maximal level for the armed forces, the USSR wants 1.7 million. – In the first phase the US would reduce nuclear vehicles by 30%, while the Soviet Union wants to see their total liquidation. The US wants to stop the production of fissionable material in the first phase, while the USSR in the second. – March 28. Washington and Moscow are unable to agree on the agenda. The Soviet Union demands the establishment of nuclear free zones in Central Europe and Africa; a non-aggression treaty between NATO and the Warsaw Pact; a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The US demands: nuclear test ban treaty and the reduction of the production of fissionable materials; measures against surprise and accidental war.® April 18, 1962. – March 27. The White House on US strategy: the West must stop a possible Soviet attack “with all means at its disposal,” but under no circumstances would the US carry out a first strike.

April 18. The US presents a general disarmament plan in Geneva, the aim of which is full and general disarmament. The process of disarmament would be controlled by an international disarmament organization, which would be established by within the UN after the agreement is signed. In the first phase most weapons would be reduced by 30%, the rest would be reduced by 30% in the second stage, while all would be destroyed in the third stage. In the first phase the production of fissionable material suitable for military use would be stopped and a certain amount would be handed over for peaceful use (according to the American proposal 50 thousand kilos of U-235). A nuclear non-proliferation treaty would be signed. In the second stage the remaining fissionable material would be reduced. In the third phase all nuclear weapons, the fissionable material suitable for their production and production facilities would be destroyed. In the first phase the US and the USSR would reduce their troops to 2.1 million each, the other designated countries to a proportionately lower level, while the remaining ones to 100 thousand or 1% of their population. In the second phase the two great powers would reduce their armies to 50% of the remainder the rest to a predetermined percent. At the end of the last phase only militias and UN peace-keeping forces would remain. – Some of the foreign military bases would be closed in the second stage, the rest in the third one. – In the first phase measures would be taken to avoid accidental war, or armed conflict by miscalculation. – UN peace keeping: first phase: preparation to set up UN forces, the determination of its composition, size, control, command, training reserve and financial supply. Nations would use all means for the peaceful resolution of conflict, including forums outside the UN and would accept the jurisdiction of the International Court. In the second phase the UN peace-keeping force would be erected and would reach its full size in the third phase. The international disarmament organ would control disarmament. – April 24. The Soviet Union rejects the plan. According to Zorin the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court and the UN peace keeping force is illegal. In his view the UN peace force could be used at the instruction of the UN Security Council only. The document constitutes a violation of the UN charter and would legalize espionage.

April 21. A Yugoslav-American treaty is signed in Belgrade: almost 25 million dollars worth of agricultural goods are sold to Yugoslavia. Out of this dinars are paid for 14.5 million dollars worth of wheat and lemon, the rest is to be paid for in dollars in 15 years.

May 5. The US provides NATO command with five nuclear submarines and 80 Polaris missiles. The submarines remain under the control of the US navy, but its commands are received through NATO high command. The warheads belonging to the missiles remain under the exclusive control of the American President. – The NATO states receive all information on nuclear weapons accumulated on their territory and data needed for political decisions.

May 15. De Gaulle states at a press conference that no matter what happens France will be a nuclear power and will have a part in the formulation of its own fate. According to observers de Gaulle’s remark refers to the fact that France no longer believes in the US promise for Europe’s nuclear defense.® February 14, 1963. – June 4. French prime minister Georges Pompidou states at a WEU meeting that Europe’s growing military and economic power makes it necessary to reorganize NATO to reflect the changes in the balance between Europe and the US. The age when NATO was built on a US with atomic monopoly and a France enfeebled by war is over. – May 17. Kennedy refutes de Gaulle’s views: the US does not believe in the series of nuclear deterrents, but that NATO’s strength provides sufficient defense.The moment a nation starts to think that nuclear deterrence ensures its independence, we are in a very dangerous situation.® September 9 1965; October 28.-November 5, 1962.

May 19. Khrushchev’s speech in Sofia: he asks whether President Kennedy wants to compete in “who will be first to press the button?” “We do not want such a competition.” “We want only to keep our powder dry and be ready.” The speech came in response to the outline of US strategy given by Kennedy, which the Soviets – in spite of Kennedy’s denial – interpreted in such a way that the US is ready to launch a nuclear war against the Soviet Union.

July 23. Moscow proposes the establishment of a direct telephone link between the Kremlin and the White House. – Kennedy’s response: he is not planning a direct link with the Kremlin since the main problem between them is not in communication but understanding.® December 12, 1962.

October 22. The Cuban missile crisis. – Kennedy announces that offensive nuclear bases are being built in Cuba. According to the President the aim of these bases can only be the establishment of a nuclear force on the Western Hemisphere. According to Kennedy the Cuban measure upset the nuclear balance between East and West. The President announces Cuba’s blockade and that he is convening the UN Security Council. – October 23. According to the Soviet government Cuba’s blockade could lead to a thermonuclear war. – October 24. The US blockade is put in place, it aims at stopping further deliveries of missiles and missile equipment to Cuba. – Through the British philosopher Bertrand Russell Khrushchev offers a summit to Kennedy to solve the crisis. – October 25. The Soviet representative in the UN, Zorin refuses to acknowledge the presence of missiles in Cuba. October 26. Khrushchev gives his consent to dismantle and withdraw the Soviet missiles from Cuba under UN observation in return for a US guarantee for Cuba’s sovereignty. – October 27. Khrushchev offers to withdraw the Cuban missiles if the US dismantles its Jupiter missiles in Turkey. Kennedy decides to disregard the second message. – October 29. The US suspends the blockade.

November 27. The report of the subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives on US policy towards Eastern Europe. The chairman of the subcommittee, Edna F. Kelly declares that the State Department and the VOA did not do everything “to sustain the spirit of resistance in Eastern Europe and nationalistic aspirations of the captive nations” of Eastern Europe. As an example Kelly cited that the VOA failed to broadcast the subcommittee’s hearings. – Furthermore the report is critical of the government’s reluctance to persuade the UN to condemn “colonialism” in Eastern Europe and urged that in order to counter the threat to Berlin to demand the settlement of East-Central European problems on the lines of the treaties signed by the allies after World War II.

December 12. The US delegation in Geneva urges the establishment of a direct telefax or telephone line between the White House and the Kremlin. Kennedy supports the idea. According to the President the war crisis showed that in the atomic age there is need for rapid communication between the leading powers of the world. In the course of the crisis communication was slow many times they had to rely on open communications and this lasted for hours.® April 5, 1963.

December 13.-15. The Paris meeting of the NATO council affirmed that the main task of the organization is to develop conventional forces. The council expressed its readiness to promote East-West talks in the midst diminishing international tension.

December 21. Joint announcement by the US and Great Britain on an agreement to develop a joint Western nuclear force. American and British nuclear arms and military unit will be sent to a multilateral nuclear force, which will be established after consultation with the NATO member states. – The British nuclear force is placed under NATO command except when, according to the government, national interests are at stake. – December 27. France rejects Kennedy’s offer to equip France with Polaris missiles to form a French nuclear force linked to NATO.® January 14, 1963.

In the course of the year According to reports trade between the free world and the communist states reached an all time peak: 4.1% of the aggregate trade of Western world, its value was 5.2 billion dollars. The communist export to the US was 125.2 million dollars in 1962, 0.7% of its 21.7 billion dollar turnover. This region represents 3.6% in French and 3.5% in British trade.

January 11. Figures are published on the US commercial turnover (without military deliveries, in billions of dollars):

January 14. France rejects participation in a NATO nuclear force. – January 24. Kennedy rejects de Gaulle’s charges that the US wants to rule over Europe in the awareness of its nuclear superiority. – February 5. From de Gaulle’s speech: “MacMillan told me in Rambouillet in December 1962 that we are right in wanting to build a nuclear force. In spite of this we need our own. We should link them together irrespectively of the US. Then he left me and went to the Bahamas. This was before January the 4^th.” – Georges Pompidou reiterates that the French vetoed Britain’s membership in the EEC because London signed the Nassau treaty on the joint nuclear program. Pompidou accused Britain of signing a treaty in 48 hours without consultation with the French that would wants to surround France and the other European states. – February 27. According to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman J. W. Fulbright the French President dealt a serious blow to US foreign policy. The most severe decision was to exclude Britain from the EEC and that it follows an independent nuclear policy. – February 27. Seven Western European states announce that they support the Anglo-American plan to set up a unified Western European nuclear force. The multilateral force would be made up of navy units equipped with Polaris missiles. The NATO force’s commander would be European, who would be subordinated to the traditionally American supreme commander of NATO.

February 12. The NBC office is closed in Moscow in reprisal for NBC severely distorting Soviet reality with the obvious aim of arousing hostile sentiments against the Soviet Union.

February 20. The Soviet Union presents a draft for a NATO-Warsaw Pact non-aggression treaty in Geneva.

March 20. A US-Soviet agreement is signed on joint communicational and meteorological satellite projects.

April 5. The USSR accepts the US proposal to establish a direct link of communication between the two capitals to avoid accidental war. Washington warmly welcomes this development and regards it as the first positive result of the Geneva talks.® June 20, 1963.

May 4. Secretary of State Rusk’s talks in Belgrade with Tito and Yugoslav foreign minister Popovic. The main theme of the talks is Yugoslavia’s most favored nation status.

May 24. The foreign ministers of NATO announce that they accept the measures leading to an international nuclear force. At French insistence this was announced as the routine reorganization of NATO’s present nuclear force. The units comprising the inter-allied force will keep their national character in spite of the fact that they will be subordinated to NATO command. The financial resources and manpower will be provided by the national governments and the units of the international force will remain under national jurisdiction so they can be withdrawn from NATO command by the national governments. The US and Britain retain supreme command over the nuclear weapons.

June 10. In a speech Kennedy calls on the Americans to support the cause of disarmament by revising their stance toward peace, the Soviet Union and the cold war. He declares that communism is basically repulsive for the Americans, but they can respect the Russian people for their achievements in science, outer space and industrial growth. The US must pursue a policy that makes the Russians interested in peace. According to Kennedy paradoxically the two strongest powers are the most threatened by annihilation, these two states bear the largest burdens. Even the most hostile states keep their obligations undertaken in treaties that serve their own interests. History teaches us that hostility among nations does not last forever. – The President reveals an Anglo-American invitation for preparatory talks for a test ban treaty. – Khrushchev rejects Kennedy’s invitation for test ban talks.

June 25. Kennedy on Berlin: “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

July 2. Khrushchev recommends an East-West non-aggression treaty and a simultaneous test ban treaty.

July 3. Kennedy rejects Khrushchev’s proposal for the dual pact. The response was not addressed directly to Khrushchev so as not to ruin the chance for a test ban treaty. The non-aggression pact is not acceptable because it would recognize the GDR and the post war Sovietization of Eastern Europe.

July 15. British-American-Soviet talks commence in Moscow on the test ban treaty.

July 25. The US, Great Britain and the Soviet Union initial the limited test ban treaty in Moscow. According to the agreement nuclear tests are banned in outer space, in the atmosphere and under water. Underground tests are not banned since those cannot be shown without the control methods rejected by the USSR. – According to Kennedy the treaty reduces international tension, helps avoid the proliferation of nuclear arms and reduces the arms race. – In Khrushchev’s view the treaty in itself does not avert the danger of war but is a good start toward the improvement of East-West relations and the termination of the cold war. – July 29. France fails to take part in the test ban treaty. – August 5. The three powers sign the treaty.

August 9. The secretary of state’s talks in Moscow with Khrushchev and Gromyko.

August 16. Final agreement is made between the US and the Soviet Union about cooperation in weather, communication and magnetic satellite programs.

August 21. A nuclear cooperation agreement is signed between the US and the Soviet Union for three years.

September 3. Soviet-American treaty of cooperation is signed to study cosmic radiation. – September 20. Kennedy proposes a joint Soviet-American manned mission to the Moon. Kennedy also referred to the Moscow test ban treaty, which gave the two superpowers “a pause in the cold war,” which can be used to “gain new confidence and experience in concrete collaboration for peace.” “If we can now be as bold and farsighted in the control of deadly weapons as we have been in their creation – then surely, this first small step can be the start of a long and fruitful journey.” Kennedy made the first such offer to Khrushchev in June 1961.® October 10.

September 19. In a speech given in the UN Soviet foreign minister Gromyko proposes a summit for universal and full disarmament. The Soviet Union is willing to accept for a limited number of ICBMs and ABMs to remain in the possession of the US and the Soviet Union until the third disarmament phase. The Soviet Union is willing to negotiate on an international non-proliferation treaty and on banning the use of atomic arms in nuclear free zones and on banning nuclear weapons from outer space.

October 3. It is announced that the foreign ministers of the US, the UK and the USSR (Rusk, Home and Gromyko) agreed in principle not to deploy nuclear arms in outer space.

October 9. Kennedy denies an agreement on the ban of nuclear arms from outer space. According to Kennedy neither the US nor the Soviet Union wishes to deploy nuclear arms in outer space and since such a move could not be detected anyway, there is no point in signing an agreement about it. – President Kennedy permits the sale of 250 million dollars worth of wheat and flour to the Soviet Union. If the agreement is made, this will be the biggest commercial transaction in the history of the two states. Payment would be made in cash or gold and could be used up in the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe. It would not be an agreement between the governments, the sellers and private banks would assume the risk. Thus the President changed Washington’s traditional policy not to sell state subsidized agricultural surplus to communist countries although an exception was made in 1955 for Poland and Yugoslavia. According to the commercial loan conditions to be extended to the Soviet Union, instead of a loan the Soviet Union will be subject to the possibility of delayed payment. According to the Johnson Act of 1939 only governments that have not renounced the payment of debts to the US such as the Soviet Union, are entitled to loans. – Several congressional representatives – some of them of states that possess surplus wheat, (Dirksen: Illinois, Halleck: Indiana) and the Republican leaders of the House and the Senate – protest because the Presidential decision violates congressional policy® October 26, 1963.

October 10. The US House of Representatives prohibits the use money from the budget approved by the House for NASA in the joint Moon mission of the US and “a communist, communist-dominated or communist-controlled country”. The House reduced NASA’s budget for 1966 to 5.1 billion dollars.

October 16.-25. Visit to the US by Yugoslav President Tito. Tito negotiated with Kennedy and expressed his gratitude for the 2.5 billion dollars of US aid extended to his country since 1945. (According to Kennedy’s May 14 resolution Yugoslavia is not part of the “international communist conspiracy” and therefore it is eligible for a 2 million dollar military loan).

October 17. The UN unanimously passed a resolution aimed at preserving outer space from nuclear weapons.

October 22.-24. A full US division is transported by air to Europe to prove: the US army is capable of moving such a large contingent to Germany and then to equip them from stocks and get them combat ready in a couple of days. The exercise lasted 63 hours and 20 minutes, 15,278 troops used 196 planes, covered 5600 miles, picked up 300 tanks and 429 personal armed carriers. – November 7. The USSR introduces its antiballistic missiles at the military parade commemorating the October revolution.

October 26. Khrushchev announces: his country will not purchase American wheat unless the discriminatory measures concerning the use of the wheat are lifted. – October 27. Senator Humphrey recommends the revision of the American trade policy towards Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. He opines that the export of strategic goods should be made more stringent and that of the non-strategic ones should be relaxed. Humphrey justifies his argument with economic considerations. Earlier the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also announced the revision of US trade policy in order to increase East-West trade. According to Senator Fulbright Canada and other Western nations finance their Eastern exports through European banks. That is they use US credit for the export of such goods that the US is not allowed to sell to Eastern Europe. – 200 leading American businessmen ask for the revision of US trade policy: they report that the Western countries sell 5 billion dollars worth of goods to the East bloc annually, but because of the restrictions the American share is only 200 million dollars. – October 28. Hungary is permitted to buy 5.5 million dollars worth of US maize. According to an earlier report by the Washington Post Hungary canceled its request for the purchase 200 thousand tons of American wheat because the Department of Commerce would allow delivery in US vessels only. Hungary expressed its willingness to satisfy this criterion, but only at world market tariffs. This was misinterpreted in the US to the effect that Hungary was unwilling to accept the delivery of the merchandise in US ships. – The Soviet-American wheat negotiations end without result because US ship owners would deliver the wheat to the Soviet Union at the usual price only, which means that it would cost 50 million dollars to take 4 million tons of wheat to the USSR.® December 26, 1963. – November 8. Hungary gets the license to purchase 100 thousand tons of wheat for 7.6 million dollars. – November 14. The Department of Commerce gives Hungary the license to purchase another 100 thousand tons of wheat at the price of 8 million dollars. (Till the end of October Hungary bought 6.6 million tons of maize from the US).

November 12. The State Department announces that new travel restrictions are introduced for Czechoslovak, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian and Polish diplomats, who are banned from 355 counties, 11% of the area of the continental US. The restrictions are introduced because of “national security” reasons. The limitation does not apply to tourists, journalist residing in the US and other visitors. – New list is published on the travel limitations of Russian diplomats. The measure came in reprisal to a similar move against US diplomats in the Soviet Union. Russian diplomats are banned from 26% of the continental US.

November 22. US President John F. Kennedy is murdered. – November 23. Khrushchev expresses his condolences at the US embassy in Moscow personally. In a letter to the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson he states that Kennedy’s death is “a hard blow to all those who cherish the cause of peace and Soviet-American cooperation”. – November 30. The Soviet Union hands over to the US the files pertaining to Kennedy’s assumed assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald previously filed for Soviet citizenship and spent time in the Soviet Union.

November 26. The US Senate votes against a bill, which would have impeded the Export-Import Bank from guaranteeing the Soviet purchase of 250 million dollars worth of grain. The Senate voted right after Senator Mansfield read Kennedy’s letter in which the former President labeled the bill as something that is contrary to the national interest.

December 14. Khrushchev announces that the Soviet Union wishes to reduce its military expenditure.

December 16. In a speech President Johnson reaffirms American devotion to NATO. According to Rusk the unprecedented opportunity to negotiate with the Soviet Union must be exploited.

December 26. Secretary of Commerce Franklin Roosevelt Jr. announces that the Soviet Union received license to buy five million tons of grain.® January 2, 1964.

December 30. In an interview given to UPI news agency by the first secretary of the CPSU proposes that the US and the USSR take efficient steps to make 1964 the decisive year in the improvement of the international situation. Khrushchev signals his acceptance of the Johnson administration’s proposals for East-West talks.

January 2. In his new year speech Khrushchev calls on the world for the sake of an agreement that would prohibit the military settlement of territorial disputes. Neither differences in social or political systems, nor the existence or absence of diplomatic relations can justify the violation of the territorial integrity by one state of the other. – The Soviet Union signs the first part of the wheat deal: it purchases one million tons of wheat at a price, 65 million dollars – subsidized by the US government. This price counterbalances the high cost of shipment. – The Department of Commerce gives permission for three more wheat purchases. – January 7. Soviet-American talks start on a cultural exchange program.

January 5. Senator Barry Goldwater’s program for the presidential campaign: Khrushchev should make it possible for the East European states to choose their own political systems.

January 8. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s state of the union address: new steps must be made towards arms control and disarmament world trade must be extended. Johnson envisions the reduction of the military budget.

January 21. The US offers to the Soviet Union to start East-West talks on freezing the number and types of nuclear arms that would include all the nuclear vehicles. The proposal was made at the opening of the new session of the disarmament talks in Geneva. The Soviet side wants to negotiate on the reduction of Soviet and Western troops in Germany, on the increase of observation positions, on averting an attack from Germany, the denuclearization of German territory, the reduction of military expenditures and a NATO-Warsaw Pact non-aggression treaty. – The US would negotiate on banning the use of force, the controlled freezing of the number of nuclear arms, stopping the production of fissionable materials and the liquidation of its production capacity, on avoiding war stemming from accident, false miscalculation or surprise.

January 28. A five-year Soviet-French commercial treaty is signed in Moscow. From January 1963 to October France bought 101 million dollars of goods from the Soviet Union and sold 50 million’ worth. – March 2. A member of the CPSU Politburo, Nikolai Podgornii visits Paris. He expresses the USSR’s “unswerving desire” to improve Soviet-French relations and praised de Gaulle’s “realistic” stance on international relations.

February 6. The US calls on the Soviet Union to refrain from passing technical information relating to nuclear arms or their production to countries that do not have them. – February 13. The US proposal on the reduction of the production of fissionable materials needed for nuclear weapons is repeated. The US is ready to divert 60 thousand kilos of fissionable material for peaceful use. – February 18. The Soviet Union rejects the American proposal to freeze nuclear delivery vehicles since it would not terminate the danger of nuclear war in the early phase of disarmament. – March 17. The US repeats its reasons for rejecting the Soviet Union’s plan to annihilate the larger part of nuclear delivery vehicles in the first phase of disarmament: it would radically alter the East-West military balance; the proposal contains no provision to check whether one or the other contracting party does not keep nuclear missiles deployed. It demands the elimination of foreign bases, including those that ensure the East-West balance.

February 22. The US and the Soviet Union sign the fourth two-year cultural exchange program. The agreement envisions exchange programs in the field of industry, agriculture, performing arts and public health, but the number of students is reducedfrom 50 to 40 per country.

February 25. Rusk’s speech on US policy toward communism. Three objectives are identified: to stop the communists from extending their domain, by making it more and more costly, dangerous and futile for them to try; the signing of agreements that reduce the chance for destructive wars; the promotion of the evolution of the communist world towards national independence, peaceful cooperation and open societies. According to Rusk this can be achieved by the US “adjusting our policies to the changing behavior of the different communist states”. According to Rusk it is not enough to contain communism and to sign certain agreements to reduce the risk of war. US policy toward communism changed because “some communist governments have become responsive in varying degrees…to the aspirations of their subjects…the communist bloc is no longer a single flock of sheep following blindly behind one leader”.

February 26. Proposal by Polish party general secretary Gomulka for the freezing of nuclear arms on the territory of the GDR, the FRG, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Western part of Germany would not need to establish official links with the Eastern part to sign.

March 25. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee J. W. Fulbright states his views on the foreign policy of the US: a radical change came about in the links within the communist world and between the communist and the Western world. The cold war is not the same: the Soviet Union is no longer as aggressive as it used to be, both sides renounced complete victory; the US has strategic superiority that the USSR tacitly accepts. According to Fulbright the US must forget myths such as the monolithic nature of communism, that all communist states are inveterately evil, and the uncompromising foe of the free world, that trading with the communist states is like dealing with the devil, we either win the cold war or bury it straight away. – According to Secretary of State Rusk, Fulbright’s views do not reflect the administration’s policies. – According to Senator Goldwater, Fulbright’s views lack all reality.

March 26. The US President extends the most favored nation treatment to Poland and Yugoslavia.

April 9. It is announced in Moscow that four US military attachés and one British attaché may not leave Moscow for 90 days. – April 10. It is announced in Washington that until July 1 no Soviet attaché may leave Washington unless the Soviet restriction is revoked.

April 14. The Pentagon’s official estimate of the military balance: Strategic airforce: US: 540 long range nuclear bombers. Soviet Union: 120 heavy bombers and 150 medium range bombers capable of reaching the US. ICBMs: US: ca. 750. Soviet Union: 188. SLBMs: US: 192. Soviet Union: much less, the Soviet missiles cannot be launched from under water.

April 20. The US and the Soviet Union announce simultaneously that they are reducing the production of fissionable material. The following day Great Britain joins the undertaking.

May 24. President Johnson outlines the US policy towards Eastern Europe: “we work to carry on the vision of the Marshall Plan to strengthen the ability of every European people to select and shape its own society…to bring every European nation closer to its neighbors in the relationship of peace,…to build bridges across the gulf that divided us from Eastern Europe,…bridges of increased trade, of ideas, of visitors and of humanitarian aid.”

June 1. The US and Romania sign a commercial and political agreement. According to the joint communiqué Romania would be allowed to purchase most articles in the US without individual licensing. Romania obtained American license for some industrial installations towards which the Romanian delegation showed particular interest.® January 4, 1965. – July 31. A Franco-Romanian treaty of technological and scientific cooperation is signed in Paris.

June 9. The US position at the disarmament talks in Geneva: it is willing to stop the production of fissionable material for military use and to destroy the reserve and outdated bombers. – The USSR rejects the proposal for the annihilation of B-47 and TU-16 bombers and proposes the liquidation of all bombers in the world. Moscow is willing to avert nuclear proliferation only in case the US drops its plan to set up a unified Western fleet armed with nuclear weapons.

June 16. The US rejects the Soviet proposal to liquidate the majority of the nuclear delivery vehicles in 18 months. The remainder would be used by both sides to retain their respective atomic umbrellas until full disarmament.

July. The election platform of the Republican Party accuses the Democratic government of pursuing the policy of Munich of a quarter of a century before and of “turning its back on the captive peoples of Eastern Europe”. – From the election platform of the Democratic Party: American strategic superiority needs to be retained, “Republicans reaffirm their long standing commitment to the course leafing to the eventual liberation of the communist dominated nations of Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.”

September 7. Anglo-Soviet agreement is signed on the construction of a 30 million pound synthetic textile plant in Krasnodarsk. The Midland Bank grants a 67.5 million dollar five year loan for the project.

October 14.-15. In the Soviet Union N. S. Khrushchev is deprived of his party and state functions. The new party first secretary is Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, A. N. Kosigin is appointed the Soviet Union’s new prime minister. – October 18. President L. B. Johnson’s commentary: Khrushchev embarked on “dangerous adventures” in the field of foreign policy: the Cuban missile crisis and the Berlin blockade. But the former Soviet leader “learned from his mistakes”: and “in the last two years his government had shown itself aware of the need for sanity in the nuclear age”. This is shown by the test ban treaty and the hot-line pact and the fact that there are no weapons in outer space.

November 9. The US and Yugoslavia sign an agreement on the exchange of scientists in the framework of the Fulbright program. This is the first such treaty with a communist state.

January 1. In his new year speech Soviet prime minister Kosigin declares that his government will pursue the active policy of peace and reducing international tensions.

January 4. President Johnson’s state of the union address. “With the Soviet Union we seek peaceful understanding that can lessen the danger of freedom…If we are to live in peace we must come to know each other better. I am sure the American people would welcome a chance to listen to the Soviet leaders on our television – as I would like the Soviet people to hear our leaders. I hope the new Soviet leaders can visit America so that they can learn about this country at first hand.” “In Eastern Europe restless nations are slowly beginning to assert their identity. Our government is exploring…ways to increase peaceful trade with these countries and the Soviet Union.” – The Romanian government signs a preliminary contract with Firestone Rubber Company for the construction of a 40 million dollar synthetic rubber plant in Romania. An agreement is also made on the construction of a 10 million dollar chemical factory. The Export-Import Bank guarantees a five year commercial loan for the projects based on the 1964 Romanian-US treaty.

January 22. The joint communiqué of the Warsaw Pact countries: if NATO sets up its joint nuclear force, the Warsaw Pact will be obliged to respond. The US is trying to secure for itself political hegemony in Western Europe, while the FRG would gain access to the atomic arms in return for supporting US policy.

March 4. Republican leaders of the Senate propose at a press conference that the US should not sign any economic or commercial treaty with communist states while they continue their subversion at any point of the globe. They recommend the stance of ’no concession-no agreement,’ which means that the communists would have to grant concessions in return for treaties. – The executive committee of the AFL-CIO condemned (March 1) the business circles of the US for striving to build economic links with the USSR. The president of AFL-CIO denied that the US has anything to be gained from direct business relations with the USSR. Some government congressional leaders, business groups (e.g. Chamber of Commerce), educators, economists and bankers as well as significant agricultural organizations support the expansion of commerce with the East bloc. The President of the Senate Agricultural Committee, Warren G. Magnusson recommends the establishment of an organization that would advise the President on trade issues with Eastern Europe.

April 10. The new Soviet ambassador in Paris is Valerian Zorin, who spent 22 years as deputy minister of foreign affairs. De Gaulle reassures Zorin that he will do everything to develop economic, scientific, cultural and political relations between France and Soviet-Russia.

April 15. The State Department announces that it will support the congressional resolution condemning anti-Semitism in the USSR. Earlier the State Department did not support it in fear that it will only make things worse.

May 6. A presidential committee report issued by the White House urges the relaxation of trade restrictions on East-West trade. The aim is to put the US in a hard bargaining position for political gains, since according to the report the financial gain would be “negligible”. The committee recommends the maintenance of strategic controls and all the restrictions applying to Cuba and the communist states of the Far East. The committee’s recommendations: the President should be entitled to relax or tighten the restrictions applying to non-strategic items in trade between the US and the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; the Department of Defense should state whether the export items increase the communists’ military potential; payments should be made in hard currency; the US should insist on the settlement of private claims and the payment of the USSR’s 800 million dollar lend lease debt and to the protection of patents.

July 3. Brezhnev emphasizes that the Soviet Union’s nuclear force is larger than the West would think. According to Brezhnev the USSR made important steps to create anti-ballistic missile installations.

July 25. At the opening of the Geneva disarmament talks Johnson’s declaration is read according to which the US aims to sign a nuclear non-proliferation treaty, to reach a general test ban treaty, the participation of more nations at the disarmament talks. – The Soviet condition for disarmament agreements is for the US and England not to share nuclear arms with other countries. – Great Britain presents a draft non-proliferation treaty, which would make it possible for the USSR to renounce the treaty in case the FRG obtains nuclear arms.® January 27, 1966.

September 9. In a speech the French President implies that his country will quit NATO until 1970. “So long as the solidarity of the Western peoples appears to us necessary for the eventual defense of Europe, our countries will remain the ally of our Allies, but upon the expiration of the commitments formally taken – that is, in 1969 by the latest –the subordination known as ’integration’ which is provided for by NATO and which hands our fate over to foreign authority shall cease, as far as we are concerned.”® February 21, 1966.- De Gaulle: “…our contacts and our exchanges are multiplying with the countries of the East, each of them, of course, being treated only in consideration of its national personality. In this respect, we attach great importance to the new trend of our relations with Russia. We are pleased with the results achieved on the occasion of President Maurer’s visit with respect to French-Romanian relations…we are going to receive Premier Jozef Cyrankiewicz, hoping that his presence will serve the practical rapprochement of the French and Polish peoples.”

September 10.-16. Polish premier minister Cyrankiewicz’s visit in Paris. The premier has three discussions with De Gaulle. In a joint communiqué they call for the normalization of East-West relations so as to create “the atmosphere of entente”. Cyrankiewicz expresses gratitude for the French position on the Oder-Neisse line.

September 13. The White House announces that President Johnson is sending a seven member commercial delegation to Poland and Romania to find out how American sales to the civilian industries of these states could be raised.

September 17.-21. British foreign secretary Stewart visits Poland. According to Stewart the question of the Polish-German border can be settled within the framework of a general German settlement. Polish foreign minister Rapacki and Stewart agree that it would be useful to hold a conference on European security.

October 19. State Department press secretary Robert J. McCloskey affirms that COCOM decided to allow the sale of nuclear reactors to Eastern Europe if the reactors are used for peaceful purposes.

October 28.-November 5. French foreign minister Couve de Murville visits Moscow. Murville negotiates with Gromyko, Kosigin and party first secretary Brezhnev. – Kosigin invites President de Gaulle to Moscow so as to strengthen France’s position as an independent nuclear state.® June 20, 1966.-July 1, 1966.

November 9.-December 3. British foreign secretary Stewart declares he does not accept the Soviet precondition for the non-proliferation treaty to wit that NATO should give up its plan for a unified nuclear force. He emphasized that Germany would not be given the right to use atomic weapons. – In the course of the visit an Anglo-Soviet consular agreement is signed.

November 18. The London Institute of Strategic Studies publishes its annual report on the East-West balance.

December 8. The USSR reassures the American leadership that it is not planning to deploy nuclear arms in outer space. – December 9. Gromyko announces that the US must drop its plans to share nuclear arms with NATO, if it wants progress in the East-West non-proliferation treaty.

January 12. In his state of the union address President Johnson envisions the growth of the USA’s trade with Eastern Europe.

January 27. The US President’s message to the Geneva disarmament conference. He urges a non-proliferation treaty, the international observation of the peaceful use of atomic energy, banning underground nuclear tests to avoid the proliferation of nuclear arms, the reduction of nuclear arms stocks, the controlled cessation of the production of fissionable material and its transformation for peaceful use, the reduction of nuclear delivery vehicles, the reduction of conventional arms. – The Soviet premier urges the banning of the use of nuclear arms against non-nuclear powers and the urgent declaration of Central Europe and other regions a nuclear free zone.

February 21. De Gaulle announces that until April 14, 1969 France will draw under its own control all foreign (NATO) bases on its own territory. According to de Gaulle as a result of the evolution of the East European states the Western world is no longer under such danger as it was when the US protectorate was established in Europe under the aegis of NATO. Since the Soviet Union is able to deal a nuclear blow at the US, it is doubtful whether America would use its nuclear arms. Because of Washington’s obligations regional conflicts could spread to Europe and thus to France unless the NATO bases on French territory under US command are expropriated.

March 9. The French government officially announces its intention to withdraw all its forces from the integrated military command of NATO. At the same time it announces that all NATO installations in France will be placed under French control, or withdrawn from France. – De Gaulle informed the NATO allies of the decision earlier (on March 7 and March 8).

March 29. First secretary Brezhnev’s speech at the Twenty-third congress of the CPSU: because of the US policy in Vietnam Soviet-American relations deteriorated. Soviet-American relations may improve only if the US gives up its aggressive policy in Vietnam.– Relations with France went through “considerable improvement,” continue to develop and are important elements of the strengthening of European security.

May 7. According to Nicolae Ceausescu the liquidation of military blocs would lead to the relaxation of tension. The general secretary of the Romanian Communist party opines that the national sovereignty of the socialist states must be strengthened. On relations with the West Ceausescu made special mention of the Romanian-French relationship, which are “based on the old traditions of friendship and cooperation”. – May 10.-13. CPSU first secretary Brezhnev visits Bucharest. – May 17. According to the report of the New York Times Romania urges the revision of the nuclear policy of the Warsaw Pact so that the member states should have a larger influence on the use of the nuclear arms deployed on their own territory.

June 8. With the exception of Iceland the COCOM states reject the US proposal to limit the sale of computers to communist states.

June 20.-July 1. De Gaulle’s tour of the USSR. The French head of state is granted a welcome the like of which had never been granted to a Western statesman before. He is the first since Napoleon to live in the Kremlin, the first to speak from the balcony of the Moscow Town Hall, the first to visit Novosibirsk and the first to see the launching of a space rocket. – De Gaulle meets Brezhnev, Kosigin and Podgornii. He urges the Soviet Union to accept the Eastern European states’ independent negotiations with the West, but rejects the recognition of the FRG. The French President declares that the cold war “must end”. A joint communiqué is issued after the visit. Both sides agree that European problems must be solved primarily within the confines of Europe. – France and the USSR agree to establish a direct communication link between the Kremlin and the Elyseé palace.® December 1.-9.

July 16.-19. British Prime Minister Harold Wilson visits Moscow. Wilson arrived to Moscow to see a commercial exhibition, where he negotiated with premier Kosigin.

July 25.-28. French foreign minister Couve de Murville visits Prague. He meets President Novotny, Foreign Minister David and Prime Minister Lenart.

July 27. The Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield calls for the reduction of US forces in Europe. In his Senate speech Mansfield declared that the changed conditions in Europe and the large cost of the Vietnam war make the reduction necessary. (According to a survey 44 out of 77 Senators would welcome the reduction of US forces in Europe).

July 28.-30. French foreign minister Couve de Murville has talks with Hungarian party first secretary János Kádár, prime minister Gyula Kállai and foreign minister János Péter. Three agreements are signed on cultural, scientific and technological exchange programs and consular relations.

October 7. The US President’s speech on US policy towards Eastern Europe. He urges better relations and announces concrete steps to increase trade, travel and cultural relations between the communist states and the US. For Europe to regain its unity the USSR must come to an agreement with the East European countries. This will happen only when East and West successfully builds the firmer foundations of mutual confidence. It is not the aim of the US to overthrow governments, but it wants to assist the Europeans in the unification of their continent. – Johnson recommends mutual troop reductions in Europe. His government’s new steps for the improvement of East-West relations: Johnson pledges to lift the export ban on several hundred items. He signs a resolution that entitles the Export-Import Bank to guarantee commercial loans to four more East European countries, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. – The secretary of state will examine whether it is possible to reduce the burdens of Polish debt by spending the Polish currency reserve in the US.® December 29, 1966. – Johnson announces that the US is negotiating a civilian air agreement with the USSR, which will facilitate tourism in both directions.® November 4, 1966. – According to the President the administration is pushing Congress for a fast congressional approval of on the Soviet-American consular agreement and for the congress to discuss a commercial treaty, which allow the extension of the most favored nation status to the communist states. – October 15. According to CPSU first secretary Brezhnev the Vietnam war is the major obstacle to East-West rapprochement.

October 12. The Department of Commerce announces that 400 non-strategic articles were taken off the positive list for Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The decision does not involve the GDR and the communist countries of the Far East.

November 4. A Soviet American air agreement is signed Washington on the establishment of a direct link between Moscow and New York.® July 15, 1968.

November 24.-25. The OECD recommends the expansion of East-West trade. Assistant Secretary of State Rostow proposes for the West to jointly improve economic links with Eastern Europe. Rostow advocates the establishment of a several hundred million dollar fund to support private investments directed at the development of agriculture.

December 1.-9. Kosigin’s visit to France. According to the joint communiqué Franco-Soviet relations have arrived in a “new and important stage has been reached in the evolution of French-Soviet relations toward closer ties of cooperation, entente and friendship”. “Détente is the first stage necessary for the evolution that seems desirable in the relations between European countries…Such a transformation in the relations between European states could progressively create conditions favorable to the discussion of the major problems that are posed in Europe and lead ultimately to an entente as to their settlement.” – December 3. Kosigin announces that while the Vietnam war is going on there can be no friendly relations between the Soviet Union and the US, although his country is pursuing the policy of peaceful coexistence.

December 9. The US sells 100 grams of enriched uranium to Romania for research. This is the first time the US sells uranium to a communist state.

December 29. US proposal to Poland to reduce debt. Washington allows Poland to pay part of the debt accumulated in 1967 in zlotys; the US would use it for “mutually beneficial” projects in Poland.

December 30. The US announces the suspension of food sales to Belgrade because according to a Congressional resolution the US will not export to countries that sell goods to Cuba and North Vietnam. Yugoslavia wanted to purchase 30 million dollars worth of wheat on credit.

January 23. US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara opines that the US and the Soviet Union are both interested in limiting the deployment of ABM systems.

January 27. In a letter Johnson proposes US-Soviet talks to avert a new arms race in the field of offensive and defensive weapons.

February 6.-13. Kosigin’s visit to London, where he negotiates with British Prime Minister Wilson. Upon his arrival the Soviet premier announced: the improvement of Anglo-Soviet relations would promote détente, which is thought to be of great importance everywhere. The two parties agreed that it would be useful to convene an all-European conference to preserve security and to promote European cooperation. They agreed also in the necessity of general and full disarmament including the efficient international supervision of disarmament and ban of nuclear weapons. They urged a nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the extension of the test ban treaty to underground explosions. They agreed that conditions were suitable for the expansion of trade and the desirability of working out long-term economic agreements. They decided on the establishment of an Anglo-Soviet Consultative Committee for the development of cultural, scientific and technological cooperation. A communicational link is established between the Kremlin and Downing Street 10. The two governments agree on the final settlement of mutual post-1939 financial and property claims and announce that neither government supports further claims. – 252 British MPs sign a letter to Kosigin in which they express their concern over the fate of Soviet Jews.

February 21.-27. Polish minister of foreign affairs visits London where he negotiates with Wilson and foreign secretary Brown. Among other things they discuss the Rapacki plan, the denuclearization of Central Europe. – February 23. The two countries sign a consular agreement, the first one that Poland signs with a Western state since World War II.

May 9. NATO’s defense ministers accept the doctrine of flexible response. From now on it is possible to reply to challenges with means varying from political pressure to a nuclear strike. According to the doctrine of flexible response an enemy attack is repelled on the same level, that is conventional attack with conventional means, tactical nuclear attack with tactical nuclear arms, and so forth. A higher level is used only when the same level fails. Flexible response makes deterrence more credible.

January 23. and 25. Johnson and Kosigin meet in Glassboro. The Middle East, the Vietnam war, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and Soviet-American relations are discussed.

August 5. The State Department announces that the travel restrictions imposed on Soviet diplomats are relaxed.

August 11. An amendment by the US Senate bans a 50 million dollar loan to the USSR for an automobile plant to be built in the Soviet Union.

August 24. The US and the Soviet Union prepare a joint draft treaty for the Geneva based UN Disarmament Commission in order to forestall nuclear proliferation. The draft leaves the third article on international supervision empty. – The French news agency’s report based on “official circles” claims that France does not intend to sign the treaty.

September 6.-12. De Gaulle’s visit in Poland. He meets President Ochab, party first secretary Gomulka and minister of foreign affairs Rapacki. De Gaulle declares that he looks upon Poland as “a popular, strong and respectable country” that must have an outstanding role in the world of balance and independence. West Germany must accept the Oder-Neisse line and the GDR and must renounce the possession of nuclear arms. When these conditions are fulfilled tensions may decrease and there can be understanding and cooperation from the Atlantic to the Urals. – Gomulka refuses to relax its stance towards the FRG or to be more independent of the Soviet Union. According to Gomulka the pre-war Franco-Polish military alliance proved inadequate to protect the two countries from the catastrophe of defeat and Hitlerite occupation. As a result the newly born Poland drew the historical conclusions and chose the path of friendship and alliance with large eastern neighbor, the USSR. Alliance with the other East European nations including the GDR is the cornerstone of Polish foreign policy.

September 18. US secretary of defense McNamara announces that the US is deploying a missile system, which will be capable of defending the nation against a missile attack by China. McNamara asserts that the Soviet Union and the US are incapable of attacking one another without being annihilated by the retaliatory strike. Neither side will be able to gain superiority in first strike capability in the near future. The USSR and the US both have adequate second strike capability and this capability is the best motivation to avoid a nuclear war.

December 12. NATO’s Defense Planning Committee determines the three steps of flexible response: conventional forces would be used against the invaders; tactical atomic weapons would be used against the attacking troops; strategic atomic missiles would be used the enemy countries.