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JFK and Khrushchev Exchange Letters

Nov. 16, 1962 - The continuing exchange of private letters between Premier Khrushchev and President Kennedy (pictured last year in Vienna) is regarded in Moscow by many Soviet and Western officials as one of the most useful developments stemming from the Cuban crisis. It is believed the correspondence will be extended to deal with other East-West issues if a satisfactory solution on Cuba is found. At the most dangerous stage of the confrontation in the Caribbean, direct correspondence between the two leaders expedited the reaching of an understanding that averted the immediate danger of nuclear war. The top-level channel of communications is especially well-suited to the personal diplomacy of Premier Khrushchev, who has tended to treat his Foreign Minister, Andrei A. Gromyko, as more of a go-between than a policymaker.

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