r UNCLASSIFIED - ·- ' t December Z 1962 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT • Alaop•Bartlett Story and Stevenaon 'I'he Al • op•Bartlett 1tory on Steven1on •••m• to be wrong ln almoet every particular 1 attach tl1e relevant excerpt• on a 1eparate aheet l The atory atate• only Adlai Steven eon ••• dlaaented from the Executive Committee eon1en1u1 11 Thiel• falH ln the couree of the dellberatlon• he made certain propoule thouah none 10 in• compatible with the con1en1u • •• the propoaab made by • everal othera for an alr 1trlke-1 but no more than they did he dluent from the eventual conaeneua 2 The atory 1tate1 that there wa1 11dhagreement ln retro1pect ov111r what he really wanted 0 and goea on to attribute to 11a non•admlrlng offlcial who learned of hi • proposal the following 1tatement1 Adlai wanted a Munich He wanted to trade the Turkl • ht Italian and Brltlah mlulle baae• for the Cuban ba • ea Th • 1tatement h whoJl wror g tn both papers I ahowed you ye • terday morning Steven10n 1peciUcally oppoaed doln1 anything at thh point about the Turkish and ltallan bate• Jle wrote Turkey and Italy ahould not be included in the initial offer Their lncluelon would divert attention from the Cuban threat to the general problem of foreign ba1e1 Furthermore Turkey and ltaly • hould be coneult•d ln advance And agalnl The effect in Turkey particularly U there la not car•ful advance preparation might be very aerlou1 11 I ---· l The Drltiah baaee are not mentioned In any r f Stevenson' • propo ala J _ I 1• t ' I t • • fA t ' - ' I • 1I l I • 866T COl'Y AVAl BLE ' l UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED '·' z 3 The •tor7 •tatea that there la no dc abt that Steveneon prefu red polltlcal negotiation to th• alternati•• of military action Thb • tAtement h wholly wrung too Steven•• empha • bed that the political olfer m l take place within the • cope of vlgoro111 US mllltary action to cl • fend ouJ' ••curity 11 He a lded An offer In e fect to exchange Guantanamo lor the Soviet •U•• ln the ab • ence of US military rHponH to the Soviet movu L5tevenaon'• ltallci7 would be weak 4 Alsop and BarUett apparently ne·nr dlac overed what Steveneon In fact propo • ed which wa • a neutralization of Cuba lnTolvlng the termination of all fonlan military build-up and the dhmantlement nd evacuation of all forelsn m11Uary ln • tallatlon • all under UN ob1enation Steveneon wrote '' By 1ne1atralbatlon' we would mean a 1'e1ult along the A1111trlan type •••• Such neutralisation and demWtarlsatlon would Immediately and dra11Ueally reduce the troublemaking eapa'blllty of the Cub11n regime and would probably r- • ult ln lt • early overthrow l' eutrallsatlon would of eourae have meant ln elf ect a trade of Ouantanamo for the Soviet ba • -a Stneneon alao favored maklns thh propoHl ln the lnltial preHntallon befol'e the Security Council rather than at a later • t•1• ID the cU1cuulon1 Both the propoeal and the tlmlng were nJeeted -- and rlshtly • o Sut the • uggution In the Alsop-Bartlett • tory that Steven • on favored a Caribbean Manlch I• grouly unfair and ehowa th• number of people who • till have their knlvea out for blm • Clayton J' rltchey and I b Y • worked out the followln1 • tatement which would be luued by a • pok11man for OoYernor Steventon ln re • ponae to preu lnqulrle11 - It rota on th• alle1at1on The • tory I• faln and mallclou •• that Oovernor Steven • on 'wanted to trade the Turldah Italian and Brltl1h ml •• lle ba • u for the Cuban ba • H 1 Thi • h a total fabrication It furthe r cbargu that Cionmor Stevenaon 1dt •• • ented 1 from the con • eneu • of the Executive Committee and preferred 1polltlcal negollatlon' to th• policy of the quarantin•• Thl• l • al • o wholly untrue I · '1 • ' l i l · t - · • I I rt I l · I • • 866T COPY J UJ iLE I UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED c u m- 1 6 3 3 tJnforhm ately I have to go to Maxwell Field Alabama thb afternoo n to speak at the Air War College tomorro w morning 1 will be back· tomorro w afternoo n l l you have any thought or mieglvln g1 about the statemen t you might want to commun icate them to me before four o'clock or to Clayton thereaft er Steven1o n ls out of town1 and when Clayton dlscu1111es the matter with hlm tomorro w morning he would like to be able to eay that you had 1een t lie atateman t Arthur Schlesin ger Jr as gs t I v ' I I ' 1 _ f 1I I f1 · 1 1 _ • ' • 1 I • t' '• 1 1 I I ·B66T COPY AVA liL 1 _' I- t o h ' UNCLASSIFIED · l