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PREFACE

The world came perilously close to nuclear confrontation in 1962, as the United States imposed a naval quarantine to prevent installation of Soviet offensive missiles on Cuba. The resolve of the United States to stand firm during those tense 13 days in October led to a Soviet retreat, avoidance of a potentially annihilating conflict, and enhancement of the prestige of American foreign and military policy.

Although Congress was not in session at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, it had devoted extensive attention to Cuba during 1962. Senators from both parties stood in the forefront in warning of the Soviet military build-up in Cuba and pressing the administration to take firm action. Included in this volume are the joint hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Armed Services Committee which led to passage of a resolution authorizing the President to take whatever means necessary to prevent Cuba from threatening its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere.

The Cuban missile crisis cast a shadow over other concerns in 1962 which ultimately would prove more perilous and inflict more damage on the United States. Members of the Foreign Relations Committee raised early warnings about the situation in South Vietnam, and pressed administration officials on the growing U.S. involvement in that conflict. Administration officials, however, were less than forthcoming with accurate information on Vietnamese policy, and attempted to conceal the fact that U.S. advisers were engaged in combat. On the related issue of the Geneva Agreement on Laotian Neutrality, the administration attempted to avoid Congressional involvement by treating it as an executive agreement rather than submitting it to the Senate for ratification as a treaty. Despite a few private and public objections, members of the committee and the Senate gave broad bipartisan support to the administration's programs in Southeast Asia.

Enactment of the Cuba and Berlin resolutions at the end of the 87th Congress contributed indirectly to developments in Vietnam. In both cases, Congress used resolutions to demonstrate "unified national will" to resist Communist aggression, and gave advance, open-ended approval to any Presidential decision to use the armed forces against a perceived threat. Both the Cuba and Berlin resolutions would serve as precedents for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964.

The wide scope of executive session hearings that the Foreign Relations Committee conducted during the second session of the 87th Congress give testament to the troubled and tumultuous world situation in 1962. In addition to Cuba and Vietnam, the committee heard closed-door testimony on the Congo, Yugoslavia, Thailand, Laos, the Soviet Union, India, Berlin, and the United Nations. Keeping pace with efforts to understand world troublespots and exert some influence, were the regular reports on the nuclear test ban and disarmament talks being conducted in Geneva. Both hope and fear pressed the committee and the Nation toward a resolution of these problems. These transcripts offer instruction on how the executive and legislative branches approached these hazardous issues, and give new evidence on which to judge the soundness of their decisions.

The selection of transcripts for these volumes represents the editor's choice of material possessing the most usefulness and interest for the widest audience. Subheads, editorial notes, and some documents discussed in the hearings, are added to bring the events into perspective. Any material deleted (other than "off the record" references for which no transcript was made) has been noted in the appropriate places, and transcripts not included are represented by minutes of those sessions, in chronological sequence. Unpublished transcripts and other records of the committee for 1962 are deposited at the National Archives, where they are available to scholars under the access rules of that agency. Some transcripts will require further declassification procedures.

In accordance with the general policy of this series, portions of the volume were submitted to the Departments of State and Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and participating Senators for review and comment.

The Foreign Relations Committee extends its appreciation to Senator Barry Goldwater, Chairman, Committee on Armed Services, for his cooperation in approving the release of those sessions which the two committees held jointly.

This volume was prepared for publication by Donald A. Ritchie of the Senate Historical Office.

RICHARD G. LUGAR

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