194. Memorandum From Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council Staff to the Presidentʼs Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1
SUBJECT
- Disaster Relief for Romania
State and AID are working on providing emergency relief assistance to Romania in the wake of serious flooding in Moldavia and parts of Transylvania.2 In accordance with standing foreign service instructions Ambassador Meeker offered US emergency assistance to Romanian authorities, for which they expressed great gratitude. In response, the Romanians presented a long shopping list which (in addition to the usual items) includes large amounts of seeds and construction machinery. The total request would have a multi-million dollar price tag. Ambassador Meeker has supported the Romanian request and recommended that it be delivered by the US Air Force.
State and AID consider that the request is well out of proportion to the need, and wish to keep our assistance more within the normal range of disaster relief. To this end, the dispatch this evening of a large quantity of tents, blankets and basic cooking utensils has been authorized, by commercial carrier. The cost for this immediate assistance will be approximately $120,000. An additional donation of medical supplies ($65,000) is under urgent consideration.
The inclination not to accede to the much larger request is prompted by several factors:
- —the US is the first (and so far the only) country to offer material assistance (the Presidentʼs message of sympathy was also the first received,3 and since then only Israel, Iran, the UK, Yugoslavia and Italy have sent similar messages);
- —a response to the full request would involve a heavy expense;
- —US flood relief in comparable disasters has never exceeded this amount, even in the case of more friendly countries, and this assistance is very generous even by those standards;
- —finally, a much larger and more direct US involvement could arouse Soviet suspicions at a time when Soviet-Romanian relations are quite unclear. (Ceausescu was suddenly summoned to Moscow to confer with Brezhnev, apparently without resolving the acute issues that prompted the meeting.)
For these reasons, State/AID consider that our relief assistance to Romania should stay at the planned levels. In my judgment, the State/AID line is correct, and unless you wish to have more massive involvement considered, the relief program should proceed as now agreed.4
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 702, Country Files—Europe, Romania, Vol. II 9/69–Jun 70. Limited Official Use. Sent for action.↩
- Between May 12–25 torrential rains caused the Danube River to rise to its highest levels since 1840. The flooding inundated 248 communities, caused significant damage in another 853 communities, and left 144 dead in its wake.↩
- Not found.↩
- Kissinger initialed approval of the “Proceed as now agreed” option.↩