Overview

The documentation printed in this volume presents the major actions and discussions of the U.S. Government toward the states of Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia), three states of the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey), and Austria and Finland.

A single Eastern European regional compilation includes documentation on U.S. relations with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania. In general, these documents illustrate the very limited contacts between the United States and these satellite nations and focus primarily on limited economic ties. Documentation on Hungarian efforts to secure a seat in the United Nations will be printed in volume XXV, General; United Nations. The documentation on Poland focuses on U.S. efforts to employ limited economic assistance as a tool to gain diplomatic leverage with an important Warsaw Pact state. Documentation relating to Yugoslavia deals with the continuing U.S. policy of providing support to this Communist state in order to ensure its independence from Soviet control.

The Eastern Mediterranean was an area of growing tension and instability during the early 1960s. The Cyprus portion of the volume outlines U.S. efforts to promote intercommunal harmony and to establish a firm working relationship with the government of the newly independent Cypriot Republic. Documentation on Greece and Turkey deals with U.S. efforts to provide military and economic assistance to these two states and ensure their domestic political stability.

This volume also provides coverage of U.S. relations with two important neutral nations bordering on the Soviet Bloc. Documentation on Austria deals primarily with U.S.-Austrian discussions regarding improvements in Austrian defense capabilities. Documentation on Finland outlines the U.S. response to the Finno-Soviet crisis of November 1961 and subsequent U.S. efforts to bolster Finnish security and independence, including the question of arms supply.