Office of the Historian

284. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, September 22, 1978, 2:55–3 p.m.

PARTICIPANTS

  • President Carter
  • Senator John Glenn
  • Roger Sullivan, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
  • Nicholas Platt, NSC Staff Member
  • Peter Kenilorea, Prime Minister, Solomon Islands
  • Francis Bugotu, Ambassador-designate

The President greeted Prime Minister Kenilorea warmly, and congratulated him on both the independence of the Solomon Islands and their acceptance as the 150th member of the United Nations.2

Prime Minister Kenilorea thanked the President, noted what an honor it was for him and his new nation to be received in the Oval Office, and introduced his Ambassador-designate to the United States, Francis Bugotu.

The President welcomed Ambassador-designate Bugotu and said that he had heard that Ambassador Bugotu had the highest qualifications for his job.

Senator Glenn described the warm welcome he had received as head of the United States delegation at the independence crermonies in the Solomons. He commented humorously that his space experience had led some inhabitants of the Solomons to believe that he was a god, which had added immeasurably to the warmth of his welcome.

Prime Minister Kenilorea then presented to the President a carved “nuza-nuza” figurine designed to be placed on the prow of a canoe. The President thanked the Prime Minister.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 36, Memcons: President, 8–9/78. Confidential. The meeting took place in the Oval Office at the White House. Kenilorea made a private visit to Washington on September 22.↩
  2. See Yearbook of the United Nations, 1978, p. 397.↩