THE NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE
OFFICE OF THE COMMANDANT
WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

20 April 1961

Dear Professor Kissinger:

The Commandant of The National War College will conduct the Defense Strategy Seminar-1961 under the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during July 1961. This Seminar brings together approximately 250 outstanding Reserve Officers who are leaders in civilian life, such as Mayors, Chairmen of Chambers of Commerce, and people in similar positions to influence our nation.

The purpose of the Seminar is to make its members aware of the critical situation facing our nation in the cold war; to make them realize that an awakening of our people is required to provide increased determination to meet the challenge of world communist imperialism; and to present to them some ways in which they will be able to create this awareness and determination among their local people when they return home.

It gives me great pleasure to invite you to give the lecture entitled "The Nature of the Current Conflict," at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, 14 July 1961. The scope of this lecture is to assess the nature, bases and sources of the present world conflict between the Free and Communist Worlds.

I sincerely hope it will be possible for you to give this lecture, for it is the very foundation on which we build the Seminars and I know of no one more eminently qualified to present this topic.

I cannot offer a real recompense for your time and effort, but I am authorized to reimburse you for your travel expenses and to offer the sum of $100.00 as a modest honorarium.

Should you be able to accept this invitation, we shall communicate with you further regarding the administrative arrangements for your visit.

Trusting that we may have the pleasure of welcoming you
to the college on 14 July, and with all good wishes, I am,

Professor Henry A. Kissinger
Director of Special Studies
Center for International Affairs
Harvard University
6 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

THE NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE

WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

5 June 1961

Dear Professor Kissinger:

We are delighted to learn from your telephone conversation with Colonel Lukas E. Hoska, Jr. on 26 May, that it will be possible for you to address the members of the Defense Strategy Seminar-1961 at 2:00 p.m. on 14 July 1961. This is to advise you of the administrative arrangements for your visit.

Usually, our lectures are of approximately forty-five or fifty minutes duration after which there will be a brief intermission. Thereafter, the members of the Seminar will reassemble in the auditorium for a question and answer period lasting about twenty minutes. Following another brief intermission, the members of the Seminar will assemble in small discussion groups for the purpose of further exploring the subject. We cordially invite you to participate with one of these groups.

We would also like to have you as our guest at a luncheon which will be scheduled at noon at the Officers' Club here at Fort McNair. A group from both the Seminar staff and class will also attend the luncheon.

The enclosed draft copy of the Seminar Syllabus is for your information. The topic for the afternoon of 14 July is outlined on pages 38-41.

Members of the Defense Strategy Seminar will have security clearance through SECRET. You should have no concern as to how freely you may speak during your lecture or the question and answer period. All of your remarks will be held in strictest confidence, and will not be attributed to you by members of the Seminar outside of The National War College. No members of the press will be present.

It is important that we be able to furnish each student with a copy of your presentation as soon as possible for his use in carrying out the objectives of the Seminar. With this in mind, unclassified lectures are to be preferred unless they would suffer too much thereby. If the lecture is to be classified, classified areas of the lecture should be clearly indicated so that they can be deleted before reprinting.

If you intend to use a manuscript we would appreciate being advised in advance as to whether or not we can be furnished a copy of it to facilitate

transcription. The manuscript will also be greatly beneficial in assuring
that the classified areas are deleted and to facilitate getting the pre-
sentation in the hands of the students prior to their departure from
Washington after the Seminar. If, on the other hand, you do not intend
to speak from a prepared text, please be assured that no requirement
exists for furnishing us one.

We will prepare any maps, graphs, charts, or other visual
materials required, if you will let us know your desires in this matter.

Your present position as a White House Consultant negates our
authority to pay you our usual $100.00 honorarium and normal travel
expenses. Under existing regulations we can, however, bring you to
Washington and return you to Cambridge on invitational orders which
will allow you your choice of travel and also pay you the prescribed rate
of per diem.

If you will advise me where you wish to be met, I will be happy
to send transportation for you. If you will be able to be here for the
luncheon, the car will arrive in time to get you to the Officers' Club at
noon. If you will be unable to be here for the luncheon, the car will arrive
in time to get you to the college by 1:40 p.m. so that you may have a brief
visit with the Commandant prior to your lecture.

Enclosed is a requisites form for your convenience. I would
appreciate receiving it at the earliest practicable date.

It will be a real pleasure to welcome you back to the college.

Encls:
as

JUN 8 1961

Dear Professor Kissinger:

I take great pleasure in extending to you a most cordial invitation to address the members of The National War College at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, 31 August 1961, on the subject, "The Nature of the Current Struggle."

This topic, as you recall, is the same that you covered so very capably in a previous presentation to the college. This will be the final lecture of our first course of the new academic year. During this course the class will have rapidly surveyed the international situation as it exists today, and most of the factors affecting our national security. It is desired at this point to present, in broad terms, an analysis of the nature of the struggle which the Communists have thrust upon us and its critical importance to the existence of the United States as a free nation.

Should your present status as a White House Consultant still be in effect on the day of this lecture, we will make the same arrangements that we have made for your presentation to the Defense Strategy Seminar in July. If this is not the case, we are authorized to reimburse you for your travel expenses and offer you the sum of $100.00 as a modest honorarium.

I sincerely hope we may have the pleasure of having you with us on 31 August.

Professor Henry A. Kissinger
Director of Special Studies
Center for International Affairs
Harvard University
Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

June 9, 1961

Col. Milton C. Taylor
Executive Officer
The National War College
Washington 25, D.C.

Dear Colonel Taylor:

Thank you for your letter of the
5th. I am glad to have further details on
the Defense Strategy Seminar and look forward
to my visit on July 14th.

I do not speak from a prepared
lecture, but rather extemporaneously from
notes, and it will therefore be impossible
for me to furnish anything to you in advance.
I should also add that my schedule is so pressed
that it is difficult for me to proofread copies
of my speech afterwards. At the same time,
however, I would like to see any test before
it is reprinted.

There is a possibility that I may
not be in Washington around the time of my
lecture, in which case I would need to have
my transportation paid for. I will write you
again about this when my schedule becomes clearer.

THE NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE

WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

16 June 1961

Dear Professor Kissinger:

Since sending you the information relative to the administrative
arrangements for your lecture on the subject, "The Nature of the Current
Conflict," at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, 14 July 1961 at The National War
College, we have been informed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have ap-
proved the attendance of two Canadian Officers at the Defense Strategy
Seminar this summer.

These officers are of Colonel-Brigadier rank in the regular
Canadian Army and are interested in planning a similar seminar for
their government.

The Canadian representatives are cleared for SECRET material
by their own government and are authorized to receive most U. S.
SECRET information. We do not anticipate that your lecture will
include classified information. However, should this not be the case,
I suggest that we discuss the items in question after your arrival at
the college and before your presentation.

I hope that the attendance of these two guests in the Defense
Strategy Seminar will not cause you to materially change the content
of your lecture which under National War College policy remains the
responsibility of the guest speaker.

We have initiated action to secure Invitational Travel Orders
to cover your visit to the college on 14 July and we shall forward them
to you in a few days.

Looking forward to welcoming you back to The National War
College on 14 July, I am,

June 19, 1961

Dear Colonel Taylor:

I am herewith returning the form
you enclosed with your letter of June 5th.
With regard to question 5, I would like to
say that I never permit unedited transcripts
of my talks to be reprinted. Given the
position I now hold, it may also turn out
that I may not want to have any transcript
at all reprinted. My conclusion, therefore,
is that we should wait on this question until
after I have seen your record of my talk.

22 June 1961

Dear Professor Kissinger:

Your letter of 15 June 1961, accepting the Commandant's
invitation to address the members of The National War College on
Thursday, 31 August 1961, has been referred to me for administrative
action.

Since you have been a guest lecturer at the college on
previous occasions, it is unnecessary for me to reiterate in detail
the procedure for our morning sessions. I shall mention only that
your lecture will be scheduled at 9:00 a.m. followed by the customary
question and answer period and the discussion group meeting. Brief
intermissions will follow the lecture and question period. We hope you
will be able to spend the entire morning with us and also participate in
the discussions.

We would like to have you as our guest at a luncheon,
scheduled about noon at the Officers' Club at Fort McNair. A repre-
sentative group from both the faculty and class will also attend the
luncheon.

A draft copy of the course syllabus is enclosed for your
information. The daily topic for 31 August is outlined on pages 39,
40, 41, and 41a.

From time to time a few specially selected guests from
various government agencies are authorized to attend lectures at
The National War College, subject to the speakers' concurrence.
These guests will have TOP SECRET clearance, as will the entire
audience of the college. If you have any objection to such additional
attendance please let me know.

You should have no concern as to how freely you may speak
during your lecture, inasmuch as all remarks will be held in strictest
confidence. One of the key policies of the college since its founding
has been the inviolability of all that is said in the auditorium. This
policy has proven highly successful and is zealously guarded. The
privacy of the lecture program is outlined on page 13 of the enclosed
pamphlet "Information for Guest Speakers."

In order that the Commandant may have a brief visit with you before the lecture, I suggest that you plan to arrive at the college about 8:40 a.m. If you will advise me where you wish to be met, I shall be happy to send a car to bring you to the college on the morning of your lecture. A member of the faculty will act as your escort.

I wish to reiterate the assurance that anything you say here will be held in strictest confidence.

It will be a great pleasure to welcome you back to The National War College on 31 August, and we are also looking forward to having you with us for the Defense Strategy Seminar-1961.

Encls:
as

THE NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE

The National War College is the highest level joint educational institution of the Department of Defense in the field of military-political affairs. Its aim is to educate a group of selected senior officers and civilians of the Armed Forces, the Department of State and other governmental agencies in the formulation and execution of national security policy.

The College is operated by the Commandant under the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Commandant's principal assistants are two Deputy Commandants, one from a military Service other than that of the Commandant and one from the Department of State, and an Executive Officer. The office of the Commandant is rotated between Army, navy and air Force officers.

The National War College Building is located at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D. C. However, the National War College program is now being conducted in a number of temporary facilities at the north end of the post. The Commandant's office as well as the offices of the Staff and Faculty are presently located in Building 44A. Refer to maps on pages 6, 7, 8 & 9 for location of all temporary facilities of The National War College.

The National War College