Glassboro Summit Conference

Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin and President Johnson during the meeting in Glassboro.

Hollybush Mansion at then Glassboro State College, site of the summit meetings.

The Glassboro Summit Conference was a summit meeting, held in 1967 during the US/USSR Cold War. The participants were the United States President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Union Premier Alexei Kosygin.

Planning the Summit

Following a UN Security Council meeting after the Six-Day War, an impromptu summit between President Johnson and Premier Kosygin was organized with only a few hours' notice. Kosygin, having agreed to address the United Nations in New York City, wanted to meet in New York City. Johnson, wary of encountering protesters against the Vietnam War, preferred to meet in Washington, D.C.. A compromise location roughly equidistant from both was selected: Hollybush on the campus of Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) in Glassboro, New Jersey.

The Spirit of Glassboro

The two world leaders met for three days, from June 23 to June 25, 1967, at Hollybush Mansion, home of the college president. Although Johnson and Kosygin failed to reach agreement on limiting anti-ballistic missile systems, the generally amicable atmosphere of the summit was referred to as the "Spirit of Glassboro".

References

• US State Department "This Day in Diplomacy" June 23, 1997
• A Few Famous Days, Rowan Magazine, Vol. XII, No. 3, Summer 2007