315. Editorial Note
On July 11, 1975, Secretary of State Kissinger summarized his talks with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko for President Ford in telegram Hakto 2. With regard to the European security conference, he wrote: “I spent over seven hours with Gromyko this evening in very intensive talks on CSCE and SALT. On the former, the main problem is now the obstruction of Malta in reaching the decision to convene the summit on July 30. The Soviets tried to enlist our support for some strong-armtactics [Page 911] to isolate Malta and move to Helsinki without them if necessary. This would be a violation of the consensus rule prevailing in the conference and would be rejected by many of our smaller allies, as well as neutrals. It would also have broader implications for other international groups which we might come to regret. We did, however, assure Soviets that we support a consensus to move to Helsinki on July 30, and I so stated to the press later. Mintoff is supposed to be heard from around 11 a.m. Friday our time, and we will have to review the bidding at that time. Our CSCE ambassador is keeping closest touch with our allies to assure we remain in step. On the whole, the Soviets seem pleased with our efforts, which is one of the objects of our tactics in order to keep them generally quiet in the Middle East. I obtained Gromyko’s agreement to a two-and-a-half day Helsinki summit, if it takes place, beginning around 3 p.m., Wednesday, July 30, and ending around 6 p.m., Friday, August 1. This will also allow time for two meetings between you and Brezhnev as well as for other travel before the Japanese come.” (Ford Library, National Security Adviser, President’s Trip File, Box 11, July 9–12, 1975, Europe, General) Prime Minister Takeo Miki of Japan was scheduled to visit the United States from August 2 to 10 to meet with President Ford and other government officials on August 5 and 6.