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DEPARl MEl'fl" Of'.-STATE 
· Mernorcmclain ol Con\'enaHon 
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. SUBJE.'CTt Situation in Czechoslovak~a 
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· Ambassador Thompson 

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. '' The .. ·sec.retary said t:te had· asked the Ambassador to come -, ln· for a very informal chat 11bot1t current problems. He beganby referring to ·his talk with the Ambassador early in the week 
on developments in Czechoslovakia. The Secretary sai.d that he caDle from Georgia and wa.s sometimes: referred to as soft spokenin ·manner. ' .He wondered whether the:Ambass~dor had in any waybeen mislead byi the m,anner in which he had discussed the cz.echoslovakia problem, ancl whether.. the Ambassador .ha<-:1 fully
·.understood the sign1.ficance of what the Sec~etary had told 'him about r~actio~ in this country ~nd the possible effect of Czechoslovaki.a 'd.evelQpme1-its on Soviet..American relations. 
'fhc Ambassador said he had ful~.y understood the Secretary's
remarks. He said that the decision which his .Government had 
made was obviously not an easy one. = The reaction in the United States :and for that matteT in certa~n Communist parties had been. clearly predictable. He had per.:ponal.1~ thought that a s.olutf.on to the Czech problem ·had b~en fountl, but something must have happened to ,change the sit\tation. ln speculating on what thi~ might be the Secretary: re~erred.to Herr Ulbricht's 
visit ·to· Czeoboslovakia •.Dobr~1in said that Soviet policy· was not determined by Herr Ulb~ic~~ or ~nyone else. East Germany was of cour.se an important member of the Warsaw Pact1 but the 
Soviets ki1ew how tol eay n.o to_.Hert Ulbricht. Later 1n the 
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con"c~rsation Ambas.saclot Thompson spe~,ulat.ed on the role of the 
Czechoslovakia press :f.n effee ting ·the Soviet rcacti.011 ~ and 
Ambl\ssador Dobrynin acknowledged that ·th1.s was certainly a 
factor. Anlbassador Dobrynin. said .that· h:l.s ·counselor had 
1·eturned from Mosco~ last weekend, and had told hi.m that most 
of the SovJ.at leaders we1..e on vacation. Dobrynin had been · 
on the verge of asking per.mission to.accompany his wif~ and 
daughter .when ·they ~etur.n to the Soviet Union next Tue.~day. 
He indi.cated he had receive.cl word of: the change in Soviet 
policy only a short time bef,;:ir.e he had informed the President 

about :1.t. 
When the .Secretary lndicated .tjiat. he had ·been surprised by the Soviet actio1l, Dobrynin attempted to justify it largely on the basis of internal developments 111 Czecho~lovakia. The Secretary said that we had see.n no ihc:\ications that Czechosl.oval<ia intended to leave the Warsaw Pact or, conduct -:1.tself in any wayothe,.. than as a member of the socialist camp. Dobryi:lin said that in his vj.ew it had become clear: that D\.1bcek was a weak leader who was allowing things to drif~, and that in these c"ircumstances the right was steadily. gaining influence, and the Soviets thought that Dubcek was losing contl."Ol of the situation. These developments ·were .leading in the direction of a situation in which Czechoslovakia would no longer be a · member of tie Warea~ P. agff1. Dopr~pin ~eeW?~1s:L~ed et:.1h_at th~e ~~<i~
gggR~W1.~eae -.Ri~stHfs e~~· an~af:~er0 £~~ t:he~eatS~e tg deciC1e. s 
t.lhen t e Secretary again r.cferr~d to the possible effects 
of rece.nt developments pn Sovj.ct-Amcrican relations, Dobi-ynin 
sai<l that he could tell the Secretary that he had i·eccived 
instructions to say, in case the subject were raised, that 
the Soviet Union ·desired to continue: to make progress upon
the· bilateral questions with which they had be.en dealing 
b.eforc th,e recent Czech events. He referred specifically to 
the peace.fol uses of atomic energy and the strategic missile 
problem. He understood t.hat. it would probably be impossible
for t:he United States to proceed ~.rnrnediately in these inatters 
wliile the ·:t.nternational situation .was st.ill so unclear. 
Without wishing to press tbe Secretary ho wo11dered whether . 
as a matter of policy, unrelated to timing, the United States 

..~~~ld al.so wish to proceed to .. d~al with th~se problems. ·­
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The.Secretary,said that his reply would have .to consist 
of twO statements, The first was that from the beginn:l.ng of 
his admf.nistration the Pres1.dent .was profoltndly atld pass1.onately
it1te1-ested in advancj.ng the cause of: peace and in pro111oting · 
better relatlo~s a~d better understan~ing between our two 
·co~tntties. We Qf cO\tr~e had differences , and some of thcs_e 

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would remain but in this :atomi.c age :the President considered it essential to do everything he cotlld to diminish dangers of confli.ct. Th~ Secrotary mentioned that the President had today met with the Congress:f.onal leE(dership. Many of these men had been scattered about the country, and their reactions reflected the serious impression whi~h the Czech developmenta 
...... 	had had on the American people. It a~pea,:ed that the President would. be subject to strong criticism for his· efforts in build­ing better re.latio11s with the Soviet Union. Nevertheless,·he could assure the Ambassador of the President's deep commit• 111ent to the cause. of P.eace. . · · 
The second part of hi.s answer was that at the present . stage he sj_mply could not say what t:he .poli.cy Of the United States would be upon the problems ·un;der discussion wi~h the Soviet Un.:l.on. 
The Secretary ex1lressed the hope. that President Svoboda.' s visit to Moscow would be successful.: Dobrynin said that Svob.oda. would stay on until the next day when he would rctuin 
. 	to Czechoslovakia. The Secretary raised t:he question of ·the safety of the Czech leaders 1 a11d. Dobrynin sai.d that while of course he had no specific inr.ormation, he was convinced that no ha1in would come to Dubcek or the other Czech persona­lities·. I1l. this connoctj.011 the Sec~etary referred to the Czech radio broaclcast commenting an ·the composition of the 
Czech delegation .that had. gone to Moscow. 
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.' The Secretary mentioned tha.t the President had gone to the Ranch. We had r.eoeivecl in the last few hours a number of aLarming rumo.rs about a possible .soviet invasion of · Romania. Tbe Secretary emphasized ~bat· these rumors had not come tQ us from the Romanians. The Ambassador would surely
be 	aware of what the offect such action would have upon the 

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