Evening star., 1961-05-20
KENNEDY
KhrushchevMoy Invite U.S.. President
To Moscow if Talks Go Smoothly
Continued From First Page

Continued From First Page
sisted summit conference pres
sures on the ground there
must first be assurance of pos
tive agreement lest failure to
reach agreement at the summit
increase East-West tension.
Prior to the Eisenhower
years, President Truman had
met with dictator Josef Stain
at Berlin at the end of the war
in Europe but during the rest
of the Truman administration
there was no enthusiasm in
Washington for further summit
sessions.
Eisenhower Policy Changed
Former President Eisenhower
modified his own position and
the policies which he and Mr..
Dulles had worked out toward
a summit conference in the
summer of 1859, in part at
least as a result OF Mr..
Khrushchev'S threats and pres
sureS to change the status of
West Berlin. Having met the
Soviet Premier in the 1855
summit conference at Geneva,
Mr.. Eisenhower invited him to
visit the United States. The
two men conferred at Camp
David, Md, with the result
that Mr.. Khrushchev Shelved
for the time being his threats
against Berlin. Mr.. Eisenhower
agreed to q formal summit con-
ference at Paris.
The Paris summit a year ago
this month collapsed at the out
set when Mr.. Khrushchev
turned a torrent of abuse
against Eisenhower and brand
ed him a false friend because
of the U-2 spy plane incident
two weeks earlier.
The Paris fiaSco uShered in a
period of intense bitterness in
United States-Soviet relations,
but Premier Khrushchev was
careful to specify that his anger
was directed mainly against
Mr.. Eisenhower as President
and that he would not carry it
over in his dealings with Mr..
Eisenhower's successor. He
Cancelled his invitation to Mr..
Eisenhower to visit Russia hut
spoke Of inviting the next
United States President:
When Mr.. Kennedy was
elected, Premier Khrushchev
switched tactics in his dealings
with the new American leader
even though conflicts between
the Soviet Union and the United
States over such issues as Laos,
Cuba and the United Nations
continued. Diplomats said at
the time that Mr.. Khrushchev
clearly was opening the way for
a meeting with Mr.. Kennedy, |
if Mr.. Kennedy were willing.
Kennedy Willing
The exchanges which led to
yesterdays announcement that
the two men would meet actu-
ally began last February, a
month after Mr.. Kennedy's in
auguration. United States Am
bassador Llewellyn Thompson
was summoned from Moscow
for consultation and when he
left Washington February % to
return to his post he bore a
message from Mr.. Kennedy ex-
pressing willingness to meet. if
conditions were favorable, this
spring or fall.
According to information from
official sources, Mr.. Kennedy
attached no specific political
conditions to his willingness to
meet.
Officials did emphasize that
President Kennedy conceives Of
the Forthcoming talk with Mr..
Khrushchev as a completely
private and informal airing Of
United States-Soviet relations
and the problems involved in
them but not as a negotiation.
Presumably before going into a
formal Big Four summit con-
ference with other leaders such
as British Prime Minister Mac
milan and French President de
Gaulle, Mr.. Kennedy would
want careful advance prepara-
ton and some evidence that the
conference might produce con-
Structive agreements.
Following Mr.. Kennedy's ini-