266. Memorandum of Conversation1
PARTICIPANTS
- President Ford
- Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
[Omitted here is discussion of matters other than the European security conference or MBFR.]
Kissinger: [Omitted here are unrelated comments.] The French—you will have a difficult time in Martinique. Giscard will be charming and go all out to have a visible success. But look at what he did on CSCE with Brezhnev.2 They said things on the Middle East without consultation; they agreed to all the things on Cyprus we knocked out of our communiqué.
We must show Europe that we can’t be at the mercy of any European who sells us out at will. Tell Giscard he can be an ally or neutral but not both. I would be noticeably cooler to Giscard than to Schmidt. I thought I would be tough at NATO. The others don’t want to have to choose between France and us. I think we have to make them choose. I think the problem is endemic—three French Presidents have now done the same—and we have to show the Europeans they can’t get away with it.
President: Will Schmidt raise hell about CSCE?
Kissinger: The German nightmare is to have to choose between France and us.
[Discussed the internal French political system.]3
The French have either been governed by kings or anarchy since the French Revolution. Giscard’s inherent political position is weak.
For 15 years the French have systematically undermined us.
[Omitted here is discussion of matters other than the European security conference or MBFR.]
- Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversation, Box 7. Secret; Nodis. The meeting took place from 9:20 to 10:20 a.m. in the Oval Office. (Ibid., Staff Secretary’s File, President’s Daily Diary)↩
- See Document 265.↩
- Brackets are in the original.↩