SOVIET-AMERICAN RELATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M01009A000801140013-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 2, 2013
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: January 16, 1959
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/04/24: CIA-RDP80M01009A000801140013-2
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Memorandum of Conversation
SUBJECT: Soviet-American Relations
PARTICIPANTS: Vice President Nixon
Secretary Dulles
Under Secretary Herter
Under Secretary Dillon
Mr. Murphy
Ambassador Thompson
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COPIES TO:
DATE: January 169 1959.
At Dinner, F St. Club
Merchant
Secretary Anderson
Secretary McElroy
Secretary Strauss
Mr. Allen Dulles
AEC Chairman McCone
Amembassy
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Amembassy
A mamba nor
Soviet Deputy Premier
Nikoyan
Ambassador Manshikov
Nr. Soldatov
Mr. Troyanovski
S. A. Nikoyan
London for Ambassador Whitney
Moscow for Ambassador Thompson
Bonn for Ambassador Bruce
Rome for Ambassador Zellerbach
Ottawa for Ambassador Wigglesworth
Paris for Imbritsadtnra Houghton -
Burgess
During the major part of the dinner the conversation was general with
the Vice President the principal interlocutor. The subject matter covered
a wide range including the following.
The Vice President asked Nikoyan what were the most striking changes
in America which he observed since his visit twenty-two years ago. Nikoyan
named first the improvement in roads which he said to his surprise now equaled
or surpassed the German autobahn system. Secondly, he said he was impressed
with the amount of research conducted by the large monopolies such as Ford
and General Nbtors and in particular their activity in the field of research
in medicine.
The Vice President inquired what problem was the most serious between
the USSR and the United States. Nikoyan replied Europe and in expanding this
point made it clear that specifically he had in mind Germany.
The Vice President inquired of Mikoyan how, if at all, he expected
Communism to develop in the United States. This launched Mayan into a pro-
longed historical discourse on the period from 1917 on in Russia with particu
lar reference to the development of the Red Terror and the acceleration of
the takeover by the Bolsheviks as a result of foreign intervention notably by
the British and ourselves.
irt.GRirr
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There was a prolonged interchange between the Vice President
and Mikoyan in which parallels were attempted between the rook
throwing experience by the Vice President in South America and the
egg-throwing experience by Mikoyan on this visit. In the course
of it Mikoyan denied that there had been any inflammatory Soviet
broadcasts to SOuth America or ani other effort to stir up trouble,
He said that the reception of th*Vice President in certain
countries had surprised the Soviets in its violence, He said that
Latin America WAS not in range of any Soviet propaganda transmitters.
Mr. Allen Dulles challenged Mikoyan on several points in this
passage and Mikoyan turned the questions aside without attempting
to answer them.
A number of guests questioned Mikoyan on developments in
China with particular reference to deviation in theory between the
Soviet Union and China, Mr. McElroy pointedly asked ifg with the
1)
growing power of China its ensuing decreased dependence on Russia
And the differential in p pulation between the two countries9
would not Russia find its position challenged and superseded in
the Soviet bloc by China. Mikoyan denied that power alone determined
leadership. He Also deprecated any ideological discrepancies
between the two countries, He avoided direct criticism of the
commune system,. pointing out that at various stages of development
different devices were required. As an illustration he pointed to
the changes Which collective farming had undergone in the Soviet
Union in the past decades. On the whole he'gave the impression of
being on the defensive ini discussing relations between the two
Countries, In any event he was careful to avoid outright
criticism of the Chinese leadership.
Toward the end of dinner there was a discussion in which a
number of guests participated on the present stage of development
of Communism in Russia, The Secretary of State pointed out that
Communism had not been achieved with its "From each according to
his ability; to each according to his needy" but rather they were
in a period of offering material incentives under the philosophy
of "From each according to his ability; to each according to his
contribution," Mikoyan readily admitted this to be true and
complimented the Secretary on his knowledge of Communist theory,
Mikoyan insisted the Chinese Also recognized the need for
incentive, He added that at the forthcoming Party Congress later
this month there would be an emphasis on the importance of
maintaining material incentives for the workers.
Mikoyan repeatedly asserted that Communism WAS the better
system and said that had the Communist system prevailed in the
United States during the twenty-two years since he had last visited
this country we would have made even greater progress than we had
actuafly achieved, It was clearg however that he recognized the
- Strength of our system in this country both in material resources
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and in our institutions. At one point be maintained that under the
Communist system our production would be three times What it
actually was but when he was asked to support this the only example
be gave was that we are producing five million cars whereas under
our present capacity we could produce ten million cars a year.
Mikoyan repeatedly asserted that the Soviet Union did not
dictate to Communist parties in other countries and for this reason
when he traveled. in countries other than the United States there
were no demonstrations against him. It was our policy in Latin
America and not Mr. Nixon personally that caused the demonstrations
against him. When a public statement by Kbrushchev was cited which
referred to the monolithic character of the Communist parties of
the world, Mayan replied that this referred to their ideological
cohesion.
The Vice President raised the question of the benefits of
contacts and tourism, the exchange of exhibitions., etc., and asked
why this could not be extended to the field of the exchange of
information and ideas. Why did the Soviet Union feel it had to jam
our broadcasts?
Mikoyan said the Soviet Union was cooperating in such matters
as encouraging tourism and the exchange of delegations. So far as
jamming was concerned this was occasioned by the character of the
broadcasts. Jamming cost a lot of money and the Soviet Government
had in fact been advised to stop jamming and spend the money on
increasing their own broadcasts instead. There was some discussion
of a relationship between Soviet broadcasts to Latin America and
the demonstrations against the Vice President. Mr. Scildatov alleged
that the Soviet broadcasts could scarcely even be heard in Latin
America. Mikoyan pointed out that following the visit of Bulganin
and Khrushchev to England the Soviet Union had for a period of about
six months stopped jamming British broadcasts but after the Hungarian
affair and the line taken by the BBC on that issue they had been
obliged to resume jamming. Mr. Thompson suggested that Mr. Mikoyan
have his people listen to the VOA? or if they couldngt hear it
because of the jamming, we would furnish them the transcripts.
After examining them perhaps they could tell us what there was in
the broadcasts to which they objected. Mikoyan admitted that he
was not familiar with the content of our recent broadcasts. The
Secretary of State pointed out that there had been a considerable
change in the character of the VOA broadcasts beginning about a year
ago and he thought they were now mostly straight news,
Incidentally Mikoyangs son remarked after dinner to one of the
guests that over and beyond the important contentious issues such
as Berlin he found himself amazed and excited that leaders of the
two countries could meet and discuss so many serious issues in the
atmosphere which prevailed.
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Wen
The dinner broke up at about 1000. The atmosphere ?during
its entire courae at no point became strained? It was by no
means, however, completely light and barbs appeared in inter-
changes on a number of occasions on both sides.
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