Office of the Historian

241. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Armacost) to Secretary of State Shultz1

Washington, June 14, 1985

SUBJECT

  • McFarlane’s Projected Invitation to Morocco

I was not keen on Bud’s initial plan to visit Morocco. However, it seems to me that having agreed to a trip, we are compounding our problems with King Hassan by continually walking away from it.

If you wish to avoid having Bud go, we could ask Dick Walters to do so en route to or from Syria should he go to see Assad. He could certainly deal effectively with key issues like Chad and Libya.

[Page 503]

We need to make up our minds this morning since we understand there is a good sense Bud will raise the issue at today’s luncheon.2 Moreover, it appears that the King is expecting Bud at the end of next week. If there is not to be a visit, we should let the King know as soon as possible.

Michael H. Armacost3
  1. Source: Department of State, Executive Secretariat, Papers of George Shultz, Secretary of State, 1982–1989: Lot 89D94, Family Group Luncheon, 1984–1985, June 14, 1985, 12:00–1:00 p.m. Secret; Sensitive. A stamp at the top of the memorandum reads: “GPS.”↩
  2. No record of the luncheon has been found.↩
  3. Armacost initialed “MA” above this typed signature.↩