Office of the Historian

422. Memorandum From President Kennedy to Secretary of State Rusk0

Washington, November 7, 1963.

I agree with your proposed course of action on South Africa in the Security Council and share strongly your view that, having made a major concession in August, we cannot get in the position of having to make substantial new concessions on this issue every few months. I think it important, therefore, that in announcing our willingness to apply the arms embargo to “materials for the production of military equipment” we make it very clear that we regard this as merely part of the position we voluntarily took in August and that the August resolution should be given a more reasonable further term to do its work.1

  1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Brubeck Series, South Africa. Confidential.↩
  2. Printed from an unsigned copy that indicates the President signed the original.↩