Office of the Historian

303. Action Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Solomon) to Secretary of State Rusk1

Washington, September 5, 1968.

On August 1, L sent to you for transmittal to the President documents necessary to obtain the advice and consent of the Senate to the Tokyo Convention. In my memorandum of August 212 I advised you that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff suggested we should send the Convention to the Senate, stating that the Committee was probably as anxious as we were to do something about hijacking.

An additional factor favoring early action on this matter is that the Triennial Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is meeting in Buenos Aires commencing September 3. We hope to use the ICAO Assembly forum to encourage other governments to expedite their ratification of the Convention. However, our efforts to do this would be seriously handicapped unless we ourselves could indicate that the Convention had at least been transmitted to our Senate although not yet ratified.

In view of the favorable attitude of Senator Sparkman, the Acting Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and the desirability of [Page 535] seeking support for the Committee at the ICAO Assembly, I urge you to transmit the documents contained in the L memorandum of August 1 to the President as soon as possible.3

  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Records of the Department of State, Central Files, 1967–69, AV 12. No classification marking. Drafted by John Meadows (E/OA) with concurrences from Allan Mendelsohn (L/E) and Alexander Schnee (H). A handwritten note at the top of the page reads: “Sir: Proposed memo from Read to Rostow below. Your report to the President should be signed where indicated by blotter.” Rusk’s initials appear on the memorandum.↩
  2. Not found.↩
  3. The attached memorandum of transmittal from Read to Rostow is dated September 6. A bill to implement the jurisdictional matters was transmitted to Congress on October 8 by the Department of Transportation. (Letter from Fascell to Macomber, October 9; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Records of the Department of State, Central Files, 1967–69, AV 12)↩