The Foreign Relations statute requires that the published record in the Foreign Relations series include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation on major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant U.S. diplomatic activity. It further requires that government agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government engaged in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support cooperate with the Department of State Historian by providing full and complete access to records pertinent to foreign policy decisions and actions and by providing copies of selected records. Many of the sources consulted in the preparation of this volume have been declassified and are available for review at the National Archives and Records Administration.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files ("lot files") of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department's Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All the Department's indexed central files for these years have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). Almost all the Department's decentralized office (or lot) files covering this period, which the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, have been transferred or are in the process of being transferred from the Department's custody to Archives II. During the period in which this volume was compiled, some lot files were kept in the Washington National Records Center at Suitland, Maryland.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Kennedy and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In preparing this volume, the editors made use of the Presidential papers and other White House records at the John F. Kennedy Library. Most of the relevant documents were found in the Departments and Agencies Series or the Subjects Series of the National Security Files. The papers of Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Harlan Cleveland, and the papers of Special Assistant to the President Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. were also consulted. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was Chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council; therefore documents from the Vice Presidential Files and the Vice President's Science File in the Lyndon B. Johnson Library were consulted. Research was also done in the Papers of Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson in the Princeton University Library.

The records of the Department of State were of primary importance in the compilations on the United Nations and general international issues. The Department's central files contain the cable traffic between the Department and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, U.S. representatives to other UN agencies, and U.S. diplomatic missions; memoranda of diplomatic conversations; and memoranda proposing action or providing information. Some important documents are found only in the Department's lot files. The conference files maintained by the Executive Secretariat contain briefing materials as well as records of conversations. Lot files of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs and of the Office of International Scientific and Technological Affairs were especially useful.

Records of the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the USIA Historical Collection, and the Historical Reference Collection of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration supplemented the State Department records.

Department of State historians also have access to records of the Department of Defense, particularly the records of the Secretaries of Defense and their major assistants and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Central Intelligence Agency provides the Department of State historians access to intelligence documents from records in its custody and at the Presidential libraries. This access is arranged and facilitated by the CIA's History Staff, part of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, pursuant to a May 1992 memorandum of understanding.

In the course of preparing this volume, the editors proposed to include the texts of 15 documents and summaries of several others regarding the activities of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The Board, which was established by Executive Order 10938 in May 1961, advised the President "with respect to the objectives and conduct of foreign intelligence and related activities of the United States which are required in the interests of foreign policy and national defense and security." Access for Department of State historians to PFIAB's records was established by an agreement of 1996. The Board subsequently suspended the research access for Department historians for security reasons in February 2000, and, at PFIAB's request, the Historian's Office returned to PFIAB all copies of documents obtained from PFIAB files, before declassification of any of those records was approved by PFIAB. Because there was no likelihood that the access agreement with PFIAB would soon be reinstated, the Historian's Office decided to proceed with the publication of this volume without PFIAB documents. PFIAB documents relative to the Kennedy presidency will continue to be sought for inclusion in the Foreign Relations series and, when obtained and declassified, will be published in a subsequent volume.

Almost all of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of the agencies mentioned, the assistance of their staffs, and especially the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.

The following list identifies the particular files and collections used in the preparation of this volume. The declassification and transfer to the National Archives of the Department of State records is in process, and most of these records are already available for public review at the National Archives. The declassification review of other records is going forward in accordance with the provisions of Executive Orders 12958 and 13142, under which all records over 25 years old, except file series exemptions requested by agencies and approved by the President, should be reviewed for declassification by 2003.

Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.

Lot Files. These files may be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, Record Group 59.

USIA Historical Collection
Reference works, visual materials, transcripts of oral histories, and copies of official records documenting the activities and history of the USIA and its predecessor agencies

Central Files. In February 1963 the Department of State switched from a decimal file number to a subject-numeric system for its Central Files.

110.10: Organization, functions, rules, and regulations of the Department of State

301: United Nations

303: Admission of new members into the United Nations

310 and subseries: United Nations: charter; membership; delegations

320 and subseries: United Nations General Assembly

324.8411: United Nations High Commissioner's Office for Refugees

330 and subseries: United Nations Security Council

341.7: United Nations Human Rights Commission

341.9: United Nations Narcotic Drugs Commission

345.2: United Nations Narcotic Drug Supervisory Body

399.731: Law of the Sea

611.61: Political relations between the United States and the Soviet Union

701.022: U.S. policy toward outer space

701.56311: U.S. space tracking stations

702 and subseries: Antarctica

911.802: Communications, United States, space travel and artificial satellites

ORG 1: Organization and administration, general policy, plans, coordination

ORG 1 OSD-STATE: General policy, plans, coordination, Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of State

ORG 8: Organization and administration: establishment, functions, reorganization

POL 10 UN: Political affairs and relations, colonialism and imperialism

POL 27-4 UN: Political affairs and relations, use of international forces

REF 3 UN: Refugees and migration, organizations and conferences

SCI 11-1 ANT: Science and technology, area research programs, Antarctica

SOC 11-5: Social conditions, narcotic drugs

SOC 14: Social conditions, human rights and race relations

SOC 14 ECOSOC: Social conditions, human rights and race relations, UN Economic and Social Council

SOC 14 UN: Social conditions, human rights and race relations, United Nations

SP 1-1 US-USSR: Space and astronautics, international cooperation, United States and the Soviet Union

SP 6 UN: Space and astronautics, peaceful uses of space

SP 10: Space and astronautics, space flight and exploration

SP 10 US: Space and astronautics, space flight and exploration, United States

SP 10 US/MERCURY: Space flight and exploration, U.S. Project Mercury

SP 10 US/GEMINI: Space flight and exploration, U.S. Project Gemini

SP 10 US/USSR: Space flight and exploration, United States and the Soviet Union

SP 16: Space and astronautics, fragments, unidentified flying objects

UN 3 GA: United Nations General Assembly, meetings and sessions

UN 3 SC: United Nations Security Council, meetings and sessions

UN 3-1: United Nations, meetings, sessions, agenda

UN 6 CHICOM: United Nations, membership and association, Communist China

UN 8: United Nations, structure and functions

UN 8 SC: United Nations, structure and functions, Security Council

UN 10: United Nations, budget and finance

UN 10-4: United Nations, budget and finance, contributions

Conference Files: Lot 65 D 366
Records of official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States, and international conferences attended by the President or Secretary of State, 1961, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

Conference Files: Lot 65 D 533
Records of official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States, and international conferences attended by the President or Secretary of State, 1962, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

Conference Files: Lot 66 D 110
Records of official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States, and international conferences attended by the President or Secretary of State, 1961-1964, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

IO Files: Lot 64 D 191
Woodruff Wallner Subject Files

IO Files: Lot 67 D 378
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Richard N. Gardner's files, 1961-1965

IO/OES Files: Lot 68 D 379
Files of the Office of International Economic and Social Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Communications Satellites, 1962-1967

IO/OES Files: Lot 69 D 169
Files of the Office of International Economic and Social Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, including records pertaining to Antarctica

IO/UNP Files: Lot 71 D 504
Division of Political and Security Affairs, Office of UN Political Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, UN General Assembly Position Papers, 1953-1967

IO/UNP/ODA Files: Lot 69 D 130
Files of the Division of Dependent Area Affairs, Office of UN Political Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs

Management Staff Files: Lot 69 D 434
Miscellaneous Subject Files of the Management Staff, Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Organization and Management; includes Interagency Liaison Files, 1962-1968

Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204
Exchanges of correspondence between the President and the heads of foreign governments for 1953-1964, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

President's Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 66 D 149
Cleared memoranda of Presidential conversations with foreign visitors, 1956-1964, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192
Files of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 1961-1969, including texts of speeches, miscellaneous correspondence files, White House correspondence, chronological files, and memoranda of telephone conversations

SCI Files: Lot 65 D 473
Central Files of the Office of International Scientific and Technological Affairs, September 1962-December 1963

S/P Files: Lot 67 D 548
Subject files, country files, chronological files, documents, drafts, and related correspondence of the Policy Planning Staff, 1957-1961

S/P Files: Lot 70 D 199
Files of the Policy Planning Council for 1963-1964

S/S-NSC Files: Lot 70 D 265
Master set of papers pertaining to National Security Council meetings, including policy papers, position papers, and administration for 1961-1966, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

S/S-NSC Files: Lot 72 D 316
Master file of National Security Action Memoranda (NSAMs), 1961-1968, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

S/S-NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95
Administrative and miscellaneous National Security Council files, including NSC Records of Action, for 1947-1963, maintained by the Executive Secretariat

USIA Files: Lot 64 D 171
Chronological Files of the Director (Edward R. Murrow)

USIA Files: Lot 67 D 317
Files of the Office of the Director, 1961

USIA Files: Lot 67 D 333
Files maintained by the Office of the Director, 1962

USIA Files: Lot 68 D 393
Director's Staff Meeting Notes

USIA Files: Lot 68 A 4933

USIA Files: Lot 70 D 449
Records maintained by the Office of the Director, 1963

USIA Files: Lot 88 A 18

ACDA/DD Files: FRC 77 A 17
Files of Deputy Director Adrian S. Fisher for 1961-1969

Historical Reference Collection
Correspondence relating to the meetings between Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden and Soviet Academician A. A. Blagonravov during 1962 and 1963

DCI (McCone) Files, Job 80-B01285A

DCI (Dulles) Files, Job 80-B1676R

Gordon Gray Papers

President's Office Files

Records of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs

White House Office Files
Project Clean Up

Whitman File
Presidential Transition Series
NSC Records

Cleveland Papers
Papers of Harlan Cleveland, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, 1961-1965

National Security Files
Bundy Chron Files
Bundy Files
Bundy Memoranda to the President
Departments and Agencies Series
Meetings and Memoranda Series
Subjects Series

President's Appointment Books

President's Office Files
Staff Memos

Arthur M. Schlesinger Papers
Papers of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Special Assistant to President Kennedy, 1961-1963

Wiesner Papers

White House Central Subject Files

Vice Presidential File

Vice President's Science File

Office Files of Bill D. Moyers

National Security File
Subject File

Rusk Appointment Book

Stevenson Papers
Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson, includes his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 1961-1965