Word: rostow
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Unknown to the world outside, Warsaw Pact troops were pouring across Czechoslovakia's borders. In his White House basement office, Walt Rostow was routinely examining the backlog of paper that accumulates each evening on the desk of the President's special assistant for national security. The first hint of crisis came at 7:05 p.m., when Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin told Rostow by telephone: "I have a message from Moscow which I am translating. I have been instructed to give it orally to the President...
...Russian-American intercourse, this ranks just below the hot line in urgency. Rostow arranged an 8 p.m. appointment with Lyndon Johnson...
Meanwhile Johnson and Rostow con ferred by phone with Secretary of State Dean Rusk. They were not sure the subject was Czechoslovakia, but they suspected as much. At the President's regular Tuesday luncheon a few hours earlier, a major topic had been Soviet military preparedness for an invasion. Rusk went ahead to a Democratic Plat form Committee hearing...
Inevitable Pause. Dobrynin arrived on time. While waiting for the presidential summons, he complimented Rostow on his tan, recently acquired in the Virgin Islands, and complained genially about the capital's damp heat. "But Moscow does not regard Washington as a hardship post," he chuckled. Then they went upstairs to the first-floor Cabinet Room. Johnson joined them after a few minutes. He ordered a Scotch and soda for his guest, a Fresca for himself. He took his cus tomary seat at the table's center, with Rostow on his left to take notes. Do brynin, across...
...Instead, a news bulletin from Prague was handed to an NBC reporter in the hearing room moments before the White House message reached Rusk. It was passed to Rusk and then to Platform Chairman Hale Boggs, who read it to the committee. Back at the White House, Johnson told Rostow: "Our plans have been overtaken by events...