782. Letter from Osborn to Clough 1
I talked with Ed Martin by phone yesterday and he told me London is somewhat less than enthusiastic about having him fly here for the meetings. From the absence of direct word from CA, I expect you all are encountering a similar lack of enthusiasm on the part of FE/EX for incurring the additional travel expenses that would be involved in sending out a replacement from CA, particularly in the light of the uncertain future of the talks.
I don’t know whether you have already considered and discarded the idea, but if the interval between talks is to stay at its current length, would it not be a possibility to have me or some other CA officer fly out for each meeting? On a thumbnail basis, I make it out to be less than $200 a month more expensive than just keeping me here, if a reasonably cheap rate on tickets could be obtained from the airlines. Such an arrangement would have the additional advantages of not wasting an officer’s time between meetings, and maintaining closer liaison with FE. I haven’t talked this out fully with the Ambassador yet, but I did mention it to him briefly.
[Typeset Page 1315]Needless to say, Helenka and I both hope something can be worked out. Not only for various personal reasons—[text not declassified]—but also for the official and principal reason, that there just isn’t any work for me to do here between meetings.
However it works out, we appreciate the efforts we know you’re making.
Sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Geneva Talks Files, Lot 72D415. Official Use Only; Official–Informal.↩