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As of May 1998, the Ford Library had not located any formal typed minutes for this Cabinet meeting. The following document describing the discussions at that meeting has been substituted.
Memorandum of Conversation, 8/8/75, Box 14, National Security Adviser. Memoranda of Conversations, Gerald R. Ford Library.
MEMORANDUM
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON UNCLASSIFIED
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
PARTICIPANTS: Cabinet Meeting
DATE AND TIME: Friday August 8, 1975 2:00 P.M.
PLACE: The Cabinet Room The White House
President: The first item is a report on CSCE and my trip in general. We stopped first in Bonn and had a good discussion with Schmidt, who is very concerned over the economic situation. I will talk in greater detail with the economic group tomorrow, because Giscard and Wilson are also concerned. From there we went to Poland where we had good talks with Gierek.
Then we went to Helsinki. There has been criticism of the meeting. But it bolstered the West and gave a greater sense of independence to the Eastern European countries. The meeting was a definite plus. The borders were settled by treaty, most of them 30 years ago. The agreement -- the Final Act -- specifies self-determination and peaceful change of the borders.
From there we went to Romania. That is a tough outfit, but with a fierce sense of independence. Then we stopped in Yugoslavia. I have never seen an 83-year-old sharper. We had good talks.
I met with Demirel and Karamanlis at Helsinki. The Turkish aid decision was the worst decision I have seen in my time in Congress. I hope it will be reversed. I met with others, including Giscard and Wilson.
I had two meetings with Brezhnev. We spoke about SALT, the Middle East and other subjects. We made progress, but more flexibility is needed. That is a quick rundown. Henry
Kissinger: CSCE was never an element of US foreign policy. We never pushed it and stayed a half step behind our allies all through the process. But we didn't want to break with our allies or confront the Soviets on it. The complaints we are seeing show the moral collapse of the academic community. They are bitching now about the borders we did nothing to change when we had a nuclear monopoly. Indeed, they beat Dulles about the head for his position. As the President said, the borders were legally established long ago. All the new things in the document are in our favor--peaceful change, human contacts, maneuver notification. At the Conference, it was the President who dominated the Conference and it was the West which was on the offensive. It was not Brezhnev who took a triumphal tour through Eastern Europe -- it was the President. And even if every spectator was paid -- which I don't believe the leadership in those countries felt strongly enough about demonstrating their independence to put out so much money.
Our relations now with our allies are better than ever since the early Marshall Plan days. Our relations with the Soviets -- we didn't have the impression this group was on the upswing. Anyone observing from another planet would not have thought Communism was the wave of the future.
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Last Updated: Tuesday, July 14, 1998