119. Memorandum of Conversation1
PARTICIPANTS
- President Ford
- Senator Jacob Javits
- Brent Scowcroft, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- Max Friedersdorf, Assistant to the President
Javits: I am ready to help your campaign whenever you push the button.
President: We had two good days in Texas. We had a little flap over Panama. Dan Flood and Snyder —Reagan picked that up.2 It’s sheer demagogery.
Javits: May I make a suggestion? I met with Torrijos at the State Department’s suggestion.3 I think you should be very presidential about this. This is an important issue for the U.S., Panama, and Latin America.
President: I thought I would lay the whole thing out. It is based on a purchase we made in 1903. In no circumstances will we go beyond the seven principles [of February 1974].4 The reason we started negotiations in 1964 was we had riots in which both Americans and Panamanians were killed. Wave a paper on the riots and say we are negotiating to avoid a repetition of that. We also want to avoid losing all of Latin America, including Mexico with whom we have 6,000 miles of border.
Javits: I only have one suggestion. Instead of saying first that we will lose our friends, say first the importance is placed on this treaty—then say we will lose all our friends.
President: I think we should take the offensive on this.
Javits: I agree. Be the President.
[Omitted here is discussion of the Middle East.]
- Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversations, Box 19, April 14, 1976—Ford, Scowcroft, Senator Jacob Javits. Confidential. The meeting was held in the White House Oval Office.↩
- President Ford was campaigning in Texas ahead of that state’s May primary, and he faced a barrage of criticism from Reagan supporters on a variety of issues, including Panama. (“Reagan’s Issues Pursue Ford in Texas,” The New York Times, April 11, 1976, p. 40)↩
- See footnote 2, Document 110.↩
- Brackets in the original.↩