Video: 'CBS News: Kennedy/Khrushchev summit (1961)' (aired June 4, 1961, at 6:00 p.m. EDT)

(Sunday, June 4, 1961, 3:15 p.m. Central European Time; during the Cold War) — U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev concluded their two-day summit in Vienna, Austria, today, exchanging threats of war.

After meeting at the U.S. Embassy and attending a gala dinner at the Schönbrunn Palace on June 3, 1961, the two Cold War superpower leaders met again this morning (starting at 10:15 a.m. CET) at the Soviet Embassy in Vienna.

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Discussions centered on Berlin and Germany.

Khrushchev insisted he would sign a separate peace agreement with East Germany with or without U.S. approval, and without regard for U.S. rights in West Berlin, a Western enclave within communist-controlled East Germany, where the United States, Britain and France had maintained a symbolic military presence since the German defeat in World War II.

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Kennedy made it clear to Khrushchev that signing a peace agreement with Germany was not a problem, but blocking Western rights could lead to war.

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When the formal meetings were over (at 3:15 p.m. CET), Kennedy insisted on a short private meeting with Khrushchev, seeking to improve the chilled atmosphere over Berlin.

But at that meeting, Khrushchev stated: “Force will be met by force. If the U.S. wants war, that’s its problem. It is up to the U.S. to decide whether there will be war or peace. The decision to sign a peace treaty is firm and irrevocable, and the Soviet Union will sign it in December, if the U.S. refuses an interim agreement. ”

Kennedy responded: “Then, Mr. Chairman, there will be a war. It will be a cold winter.”

Kennedy left the meeting shocked to his core. He later described it to New York Times reporter James Reston as “worst thing in my life. He savaged me.”

Going into the two-day summit, Kennedy was convinced he could use his charm and work things out with Khrushchev. Now, after the meetings, he felt that war was a very real possibility.

This encounter with Khrushchev forced Kennedy to rethink U.S. policy throughout the world.