Date

Jun 2, 1983

Description

We now have access to both the American and Soviet records of this conversation. Averell Harriman, who had served as ambassador to the Soviet Union during the Second World War, wrote a memorandum summarizing the meeting with his own added observations and opinions. The Soviet record is a more thorough, verbatim transcript, with no analysis. The Soviet record includes, for example, Andropov’s admonition to Harriman that the current nuclear armament policies of the United States and Soviet Union would “only lead to exacerbation of the difficulties and dangers. There are no productive results from it. In the final analysis, [our actions] will lose both our countries. And they [the U.S. and USSR] are not alone. After all, it is clear that each year missed in reaching agreement – large or small – on arms limitation, poses new challenges, and complicates the task of curbing the arms race.”

Andropov opened the meeting by stating, "Let me say that there are indeed grounds for alarm." He alluded to nuclear war four times during his statement, warning “It would seem that awareness of this danger should be precisely the common denominator with which statesmen of both countries would exercise restraint and seek mutual understanding to strengthen confidence, to avoid the irreparable. However, I must say that I do not see it on the part of the current administration and they may be moving toward the dangerous 'red line.'”

In his concluding comment, in all likelihood read by the State Department which had supplied his translator, Harriman wrote, “the principal point which the General Secretary appeared to be trying to get across … was a genuine concern over the state of U.S.-Soviet relations and his desire to see them at least 'normalized,' if not improved. He seemed to have a real worry that we could come into conflict through miscalculation.”

Document published in following posting(s):

The Soviet Side of the 1983 War Scare

Nov 5, 2018