160. Editorial Note

During the morning of May 15, Khrushchev paid a visit to De Gaulle at the Elysée Palace. Accompanied by Gromyko, Ambassador Vinogradov, and Minister of Defense Malinovsky, Khrushchev launched into an attack on the United States, and handed De Gaulle a declaration that stated that unless President Eisenhower publicly apologized for the U–2 incident, announced that those responsible would be punished, and stated that no U.S. spy planes would overfly the Soviet Union again, he would take no part in the summit conference.

For two accounts of this meeting, see De Gaulle, Mémoires, pages 260–261, and Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament, pages 452–453. A copy of the declaration was transmitted in Secto 14 from Paris, May 16. (Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 559, CF 1666)