146. Editorial Note

On January 15, 1971, Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council staff forwarded to Presidentʼs Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger a memorandum regarding the United States position on the Treaty of Warsaw. He wrote: “We had earlier recommended that you raise with Under Secretary Irwin (or dispatch an instruction to the USC) the question of the US position on the FRG-Polish treaty… [T]he Secretariat (on your instructions) informed State that it should come forward with a memo. Secretary Rogers has sent such a memo for the President.

“The Secretaryʼs memo unfortunately does not really consider our policy in the context of a ratified Polish treaty. He posed three options for our position in general:

  • “—continue in public statements to stand by the November 18 statement which expressed satisfaction at the initialing of the treaty, and pointing out that quadripartite rights and responsibilities are not affected;
  • “—state that we welcome the treaty, including its boundary provisions (this is essentially what the British said in November), and that our juridical position remains unchanged; or
  • “—state that we would respect the border and would support it at the time of a peace settlement; this statement could be unilateral, tripartite, or quadripartite.

“The Secretary recommends that our position should be to welcome the treaty, and if the FRG does not object, to consider specific comment welcoming the border provisions. Thus, the Secretaryʼs recommendation falls slightly between his first and second option.

“The first two options are virtually indistinguishable, while the third represents a significant modification of our position. The course recommended by the Secretary seems just fine for use, should the occasion [Page 351] arise, at any time prior to the ratification of the Polish treaty. (It is doubtful whether any occasion would arise in this period for the issuance of any sort of official USG statement, since the general public interest—very high when the treaty was signed in November—is rather low.) As the treaty is ratified, however, there will be occasion for a further enunciation of the American position.”

At the top of the memorandum, Kissinger wrote: “I have accepted Rec. 2.” National Security Council, NSSM Files, NSSM III.

For the full text of the memorandum, see Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XL, Germany and Berlin, 1969–72, Document 163.