215. Memorandum for the Record1 2
SUBJECT:
- Talk with President Nixon
1. The President called Henry Kissinger and me into the Oval Office after the NSC meeting today for what turned out to be a 25-minute discussion of a variety of subjects, including SALT, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, and black operations.
[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Cuba.]
3. The President asked me what I would recommend with respect to United States policy on Cuba. He then pointed out that he was under pressure from Canada and certain other countries to ease up on Castro and possibly to enter into diplomatic relationships somewhere down the road. It was clear that the State Department was advocating some change of policy such as this. I told the President that I thought we should continue the present policy of keeping Castro isolated and of applying economic sanctions against his country. I pointed out that Cuba was costing the Soviet Union a million dollars a day and that if indeed the President wanted to cause the Soviet Union headaches, as he indicated earlier in the meeting he did want to do, this was one that he had within his power by doing nothing. The President’s reply was, “You have convinced me.” We then spoke briefly about the Caribbean Islands and he was even more pessimistic than I about their future. He apparently feels that Nassau, Jamaica, and possibly some of the others could blow up any day.
[Page 2][Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Cuba.]
- Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Files of the Executive Registry, DCI Helms, Job 80–B01285A. Secret.↩
- In a meeting that included Kissinger, President Nixon asked Director of Central Intelligence Helms what policy toward Cuba he would recommend. Helms advised the President to continue the policy of isolation and economic sanctions.↩