MEMORANDUM
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
SECRET/NODIS/XGDS
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
- PARTICIPANTS:
- President Gerald R. Ford
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs - DATE AND TIME:
- Wednesday, August 28, 1974
9:00 a.m. - PLACE:
- The Oval Office
Kissinger: If Giscard is kicking the U. S. around, that would be three French Presidents in a row. That makes it endemic. That would be intolerable, and I would recommend we break the French. We can't have Europe organized against us.
It seems to be in the Europeans' blood that they must cut up anyone who gets ahead. Europe has more wars than any since ancient Greece.
I am convinced many of our problems in Greece come from the British .......................................................................................... The British sent two emissaries here yesterday. First they said the election announcement would be 4 September for 3 October. One of the things that went wrong in the July negotiations was the British wanted to hit a home run.
Anyway, they wanted to send an emissary to Ankara to extract something from the Turks. We had to commit ourselves to put pressure on the Turks -- then to commit ourselves to do it to Greece. If this failed, the British would back out. I said we welcomed their efforts but if we had to put pressure -- if it worked, the British get credit, which is okay, but if it failed we get the blame for not making enough of an effort. I told them I have to take it up with you. I said that to gear it all up to the British elections, to have it done by a Deputy Under Secretary, to have us make this effort, had great risk. Within an hour they called to call it off and said not to bring it up with you.
SECRET/NODIS/XGDS
