25 October 1962 / Enciphered cable from Dobrynin to Khrushchev on an expected invasion on Cuba
TOP SECRET
Reproduction prohibited
Copy No. 12
5962 23/X/62
Enciphered Cable
[Translator’s note: Distribution for this cable is as follows: Brezhnev, Voronov, Kirilenko, Kozlov, Kuusinen, Mikoyan, Podgornyy, Polyanskiy, Suslov, Khrushchev, Khrushchev, Shvernik, Grishin, Rashidov, Mazurov, Mzhavanadze, Shcherbitskiy, Ponomarev, Gromyko, Kuznetsov]
From: Washington No. 48866 Time: 16:45 Date: 25/X/1962
Special No. 1778
Top Priority
S P E C I A L
Tonight (at approximately 0300 Washington time) our correspondent – a colleague from close contacts [Translator note: literally, “close neighbors”] was in a Washington Press Club bar, which is often frequented by many correspondents.
The barman (the son of an old Russian expatriate) came up to him and whispered that he had overheard a conversation shared by two prominent American correspondents ([Robert J.] Donovan and [Warren] Rogers) that the President supposedly had made the decision to invade Cuba either today or tomorrow night.
Our correspondent also had the opportunity to speak with Rogers, a correspondent from the New York Herald Tribune, which is regularly accredited to the Pentagon. He confirmed the account.
Over our distant contacts’ line, there is information that the order was given to bring the armed forces to the highest combat readiness, including readiness to repel a nuclear attack.
We are taking steps to re-check this information.
25.X.62 A. DOBRYNIN
Translating History 