Office of the Historian

27. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft) to President Nixon1

Washington, February 28, 1974.

Secretary Kissinger asked that I pass the following report to you:

“I met with President Sadat for some four hours today;2 it was an extremely fruitful session.

“I went over with Sadat the results of my earlier meeting with Assad, and told him I foresaw real problems in getting the Syrians and Israelis to the negotiating table. After hearing me out, Sadat offered to send his Chief-of-Staff, and a senior political advisor to Syria to urge a reasonable posture on Assad. Gamassy has already left, and should have completed his talks with Assad before I get to Damascus tomorrow evening.

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“Sadat said he would urge the October 6 line on Assad as a reasonable disengagement line, but doubted that the Syrians would accept it. He promised, however, that if we can get the Israelis to offer a few kilometers beyond the October 6 line, plus the town of Kinetra, he will be prepared to back the U.S. publicly should Syria refuse to accept the offer.

“We talked about your trip here; Sadat says you will receive a tumultuous reception. We also had a lengthy talk on a whole range of fundamental Middle East issues. I will need to talk to you personally on what we went over.

“The announcement of a resumption of diplomatic relations3 has played well here, and was met with enthusiasm. I plan to attend, accompanied by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, a flag raising ceremony at our Embassy here tomorrow morning. I will leave immediately thereafter for a day of talks with Mrs. Meir in Tel Aviv, and an overnight in Damascus. I shall report to you from there.”

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 133, Country Files, Middle East, Egypt, Vol. X, February 1974. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. Sent for information.↩
  2. The conversation between Sadat and Kissinger took place on February 28 in President Sadat’s rest house near the pyramids of Giza. No time is indicated on the memorandum of conversation. (Memorandum of conversation; ibid.)↩
  3. Egypt and the United States restored full diplomatic relations on February 28, 1974.↩