SOVIET FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH JFK DURING MISSILE CRISIS
Washington (JFK+50) On October 18, 1962, President John F. Kennedy met in the Oval Office with several representatives of the Soviet government including minister Andrei Gromyko*. The meeting, which included Vladimir Seyemenov, Deputy Minister and Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet ambassador to the United States, began at 5 p.m. and lasted for two hours.
Gromyko read a statement from a prepared text in which his government restated that all assistance to Cuba was strictly for defensive purposes.
Having U2 photographs in his desk, JFK knew better but didn't let on that he knew the situation to be otherwise.
In a interview later in December, JFK said that he did not show Gromyko the photographs because his "information was incomplete" and he didn't want to give the Soviets the advantage of publicly announcing the presence of the missiles before he did.
JFK referred to this meeting in his address to the Nation of October 22, 1962...
"Only last Thursday, as evidence of this rapid offensive buildup was already in my hand, Soviet foreign minister Gromyko told me in my office...that 'Soviet assistance to Cuba (was)...solely (for the) defensive capabilities of Cuba and that if it were otherwise...(his) government would never become involved in rendering assistance.'"
*Andrei Gromyko (1909-1989) was born in Staryja Hramyki, Russia and became a member of the All Union Communist Party Bolsheviks in 1931. In 1936, after 3 years in the study of economics, he did research and gave lectures at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. AG entered the diplomatic service in 1939 and would serve 28 years as Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Washington (JFK+50) On October 18, 1962, President John F. Kennedy met in the Oval Office with several representatives of the Soviet government including minister Andrei Gromyko*. The meeting, which included Vladimir Seyemenov, Deputy Minister and Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet ambassador to the United States, began at 5 p.m. and lasted for two hours.
Gromyko read a statement from a prepared text in which his government restated that all assistance to Cuba was strictly for defensive purposes.
Having U2 photographs in his desk, JFK knew better but didn't let on that he knew the situation to be otherwise.
In a interview later in December, JFK said that he did not show Gromyko the photographs because his "information was incomplete" and he didn't want to give the Soviets the advantage of publicly announcing the presence of the missiles before he did.
JFK referred to this meeting in his address to the Nation of October 22, 1962...
"Only last Thursday, as evidence of this rapid offensive buildup was already in my hand, Soviet foreign minister Gromyko told me in my office...that 'Soviet assistance to Cuba (was)...solely (for the) defensive capabilities of Cuba and that if it were otherwise...(his) government would never become involved in rendering assistance.'"
*Andrei Gromyko (1909-1989) was born in Staryja Hramyki, Russia and became a member of the All Union Communist Party Bolsheviks in 1931. In 1936, after 3 years in the study of economics, he did research and gave lectures at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. AG entered the diplomatic service in 1939 and would serve 28 years as Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Andrei Gromyko with Dean Rusk
Photo by Yoichi Okamoto (1967)
LBJ Library Image
