Protocol 62 illustrates how it was Khrushchev who raised the stakes during the missile crisis and dictated a new letter to Kennedy indicating he would only remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange of the United States withdrawing its military bases from Turkey and Pakistan. The Pakistan demand would later be dropped, however and the US would only agree to remove its IRBMs from Turkey.

Soviet envoy to the UN, G. Zhukov, reports to the Soviet leadership on his discussion with US diplomat John McCloy. The US diplomat said that the US hoped the U2 spy plane pictures taken the day before will show that the withdrawal of Soviet Missiles was proceeding as agreed. Provided that progress was made on the issue of Cuba, further cooperation between the two superpowers was possible, including an agreement on an atmospheric test ban and on the militarization of the outer space.

Dobrynin discusses a meeting with Robert Kennedy, where Robert Kennedy sends back Khrushchev’s letter to John F. Kennedy, stating that a confidential and oral exchange is better regarding the subject of Turkey, rather than a confidential and written exchange.

Dobrynin relays a meeting with Lippmann in which the two discuss how close their respective countries were to war and the exchange of bases in Turkey.