The documents in this volume are drawn from the centralized indexed files of the Department of State, the decentralized lot files of the Department's Executive Secretariat, and Bureau, Office, and Division lot files. In addition, the editors made extensive use of the Presidential and other papers at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas. Most of the documents were originally classified. The Historical Documents Review Division of the Department of State, in concert with the appropriate offices of other agencies and foreign governments, carried out their declassification. The following is a summary of the negotiations and policy discussions documented in the volume.
Parenthetical citations are to numbered documents in the text.
The United States had attempted to encourage the development of more independent regimes in Eastern Europe through its trade and cultural relations policies since the Eisenhower administration. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson, an even greater emphasis was given to trade policy as a tool to encourage the breakup of the Soviet empire. By 1965, the administration had produced an action plan. Simultaneously, the United States reviewed its broadcasting strategy, particularly the future of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Revelations of CIA funding for the two broadcasting agencies seemed to place their mission in jeopardy.