88. Editorial Note
On October 19, 1971, the Czech Foreign Ministry informed the Embassy in Prague that it had decided to declare Samuel G. Wise, Chief of the Political-Economic Section of the Embassy, persona non grata. The Czech Government ordered Wise to leave Czechoslovakia within 48 hours. On October 20 the Department of State used its daily press briefing to deny Czech charges that Wise was engaged in espionage and protested his expulsion as “unwarranted.” On October 27 the United States ordered the expulsion of the Second Secretary of the Czech Embassy. In telegram 1957 to Prague, November 3, the Department of State informed the Embassy that it intended to delay informing the Czech Government of approval of its ambassadorial nominee, Dusan Spacil, “in light of [the Wise] affair, treatment of American citizens (arrests and refusals of admissions to travelers with valid visas), and the Department estimate that no immediate U.S. objectives in Czechoslovakia will suffer.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL CZECH–US) Documentation relating to the Wise case is ibid. and ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 672, Country Files—Europe, Czechoslovakia, Vol. II 01 Feb 70—.