• This is a document created by the British Foreign Secretary in March 1962.
• One week later, the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister were going to the United Nations Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
• At the time, USA had a new President, John F Kennedy. He had already clashed with Soviet leader Khrushchev over a number of issues, including the Berlin Wall in 1961.
• As a result, the Cold War tensions were running high. Khrushchev was aware that the West had a much more powerful nuclear arsenal than the USSR. He wanted to close the gap. Not surprisingly, the West did not want it closed.