60. Message Hakto 2 From Secretary of State Kissinger to President Nixon1
The NATO meeting here in Ottawa has gone extremely well, with the new Foreign Ministers from Britain, France and Germany all contributing to a far more constructive mood than last December. There is widespread admiration for your Middle East trip and satisfaction about your forthcoming visit to Brussels. Trudeau’s decision not to attend is clearly motivated by the extremely tight election campaign which is at its climax now.
[Page 242]The text of the Atlantic Declaration has been completed and will be ready for your signature in Brussels in what promises to be a dignified ceremony.
I provided the Ministers with a briefing on our Middle Eastern policy and your trip. I think they now understand better that our criticism of their initiative toward the Arabs was not intended to exclude them from the area, but related to the dangers it might pose to efforts toward a settlement.
I also gave them a preview of some of the specific issues at the Moscow Summit. You will of course have an opportunity next week in Brussels to discuss our strategy and the major issues in greater detail. The Allies were clearly appreciative of the effort we are making to keep them informed and seek their views; all welcomed the demonstration of Allied cohesion. At the same time, we have also managed to tone down some of the more querulous communiqué language that some wanted to include on CSCE—language which would have complicated matters with Brezhnev.
In sum, I think this has been a good meeting with the Allies and a good prelude to your summit meetings with them and with Brezhnev.
Finally, let me tell you how very well your Middle East trip has gone. You have clearly put us on the road to a whole new set of productive relationships throughout the area; it has been an historic trip and an historic achievement.
- Summary: Kissinger reported on the
NATO Ministerial meeting
in Ottawa.
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 51, HAK Trip Files, HAK Trip, Ottawa, Jun 18–19, 1974, TOHAK/HAKTO & Misc. Secret; Immediate; Sensitive. On June 26, Nixon signed the “Declaration on Atlantic Relations” at a NATO heads of government meeting in Brussels. For the text of the declaration, see Department of State Bulletin, July 8, 1974, pp. 42–44. In telegram 3683 from the Mission to NATO, July 3, the Mission provided a cautiously optimistic assessment of the state of alliance relations. (Ibid., RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files, 1974)
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