39. Editorial Note
President Richard Nixon met with journalist William F. Buckley, Jr., and USIA Director Frank Shakespeare on June 9, 1970, at 10:45 a.m. to discuss Buckleyʼs visit to Europe, including “some of the Iron Curtain countries,” in his capacity as a member of the USIA Advisory Commission. (Memorandum from Chapin to Kissinger, June 3, and memorandum from Sonnenfeldt to Kissinger, May 26; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 809, Name Files, Buckley, William) Although no record of the conversation has been found, on June 21 an article in the Washington Star by Charles Bartlett reported: “President Nixon has bluntly warned the West Germans against any deal with the Communists that involves the removal of the Radio Free Europe transmitted from Munich. The Bonn government, pressing for a pact with Poland has asked that the broadcasts at least be toned down, but Nixon has told the Germans that the Radio Free Europe broadcasts are not negotiable…. The President has told them that if the station is negotiated out of Munich, the U.S. forces also may leave German soil.”
In response to the article, Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council staff wrote to Presidentʼs Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger on June 22: “I gather that this is a slight garble of what the President said in the meeting with Shakespeare and Buckley, i.e., that the Munich radios stay as long as the troops.” Kissinger wrote by hand at the bottom of Sonnenfeldtʼs memorandum: “Thatʼs pretty accurate.” (Ibid., Box 379, Subject Files, Radio Free Europe & Radio Liberty, Vol. I)