101. Memorandum From Acting Secretary of State Christopher to President Carter1

[Omitted here is information unrelated to Panama.]

Panama. Cy will testify before the Foreign Relations Committee on Monday2 and will be followed by other Executive Branch witnesses throughout the week. The following week the Committee will hear Congressional witnesses both for and against the treaties, and the week after that, the public witnesses3 will give their testimony. The Committee still holds open the possibility of additional hearings later this fall or even next year, but the bulk of the testimony should be in by October 15. A copy of Cy’s testimony, which has been transmitted to the Committee, is attached.4

[Omitted here is information unrelated to Panama.]

  1. Source: Carter Library, Plains File, Subject File, Box 12, State Department Evening Reports, 9/77. Secret. Carter initialed the memorandum and wrote: “Cy.”
  2. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee began its initial series of hearings on the Panama Canal treaties on Monday, September 26, and concluded them on September 30. The hearings were published by the U.S. Government Printing Office in 1977.
  3. Carter underlined “public witnesses” and wrote in the left margin: “Bring in big guns.” Congressional witnesses were scheduled for October 4–5 and public witnesses for the week of October 10–14.
  4. Not found. In a handwritten notation, Carter indicated that he retained the attached copy of Vance’s testimony.