Office of the Historian

34. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, March 14, 1974, 3:15 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Ambassador Jorden’s Call on the Vice President

PARTICIPANTS

  • The Vice President
  • Mr. John O. Marsh, Jr.
  • Ambassador William J. Jorden
  • Mr. S. Morey Bell, Deputy Negotiator, Department of State

Vice President: Inquired as to the status of the Panama Canal negotiations.

Jorden: Responded that the Panamanians may expect too much by way of U.S. concession.

Vice President: Issued a strong concern about the attitude on Capitol Hill and cautioned that State may be over-optimistic about the Hill.

Jorden: Will advise Panama of the Hill attitude.

Vice President: Told Jorden to caution Panama—no more concessions because they will cause problems here.

Jorden: Said he felt there was a change of mind in Panama—more realistic attitude of not demanding too much.

Vice President: Cautioned Jorden there was no U.S. constituency to help you and that this is a type issue that can be used against an incumbent member. He emphasized it was a challenger’s issue.

Jorden: Indicated his concern that if we don’t make some moves, violence could erupt in Panama which might require strong U.S. countermeasures. If some progress is desirable we can avoid this eruption.

Vice President: Inquired about the status of the second canal.

Jorden: Responded there was no progress—it was not a key issue in the negotiations. He did point out that the present canal, because of its size, limits traffic.

There was a short exchange on the use of nuclear explosion for construction purposes (Plow Share).2

[Page 92]

Jorden: Indicated a test ban agreement would preclude.

Earlier Jorden had indicated Bunker would be in the Panama area prior to his arrival there, about 1 April. The conversation closed on a discussion about Britt Gordan, a friend of the Vice President, for whom Jorden expressed a high regard.

  1. Source: Ford Library, Staff Secretary’s Office, Presidential Handwriting File, Box 23, Documents Annotated by the President, 1974–77, Foreign Affairs—Panama (1). No classification marking. Drafted by Marsh. The meeting took place in the Old Executive Office Building↩
  2. Operation Plowshare was a U.S. Government program to develop techniques to use nuclear explosions for construction purposes.↩