Date: May 8, 1973
Time: 5:46 pm – 6:27 pm
Location: Oval Office
The President met with Robert P. Griffin, Vance Hartke, Howard H. Baker, Jr., J. Glenn Beall,
Jr., Howard W. Cannon, Frank E. Moss, Peter M. Flanigan, William E. Timmons, and Gen.
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Brent G. Scowcroft. The White House photographer was present at the beginning of the
meeting.
Greetings
Photograph
James B. Pearson
-Attendance
Trip
-Accounts [?]
-Photographs [?]
Senate calendar
-Votes
-Treaty [?]
Food and drink
-Breakfast
-Salami
-Vodka [?]
-Beer
-Czechoslovakia
-Baltimore
Senate Commerce Committee’s visit to Soviet Union
-Jackson-Vanik amendment
-Message to US delegation
-Possible effect
-Beall
-President’s relationship with Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Personal compared to official nature
-Griffin
-Meeting with Brezhnev and Andrei A. Gomyko
-Hartke’s statement
-Griffin
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-Content
-Support for President, Brezhnev
-Location
-Kremlin
-Politburo
-Gromyko
-Promotion to Politburo
-Role
-[First name unknown] Alexandrov
-Corrections to interpretation
-[First name unknown] Troyanovsky [interpreter]
-President’s assessment
-Education in US
-Friends school
-President’s experience
-1972 summit
-Meeting with Kruschev, 1959
-Age
-Bipartisan support for President
-Winston S. Churchill’s meeting with Joseph V. Stalin
-One-party system compared to two-party
-Meeting with Supreme Soviet President
-Trade relations
-Dissent with Supreme Soviet
-Committee’s previous meeting with Brezhnev
-Brezhnev’s role
-Politburo, Supreme Soviet President
Brezhnev
-Health
-Forthcoming visit to United States
Henry A. Kissinger’s visit to Soviet Union
-Schedule
-Moscow
Negotiations with Soviet Union
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-Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-Trade
-Attitudes
-Self-sufficiency
-Defensiveness
-Contrasted with People’s Republic of China [PRC]
-Self-confidence
Economic development
-Sensitivity
-Trade needs
-Inferiority
Soviet Union
-Changes over time
-Consumer goods, diet
-Compared with 19 century America
th
-Need to demonstrate respect
-Negotiations
-Business deal contrasted with personal relationship
-President’s relationship with Brezhnev
-Committee’s meeting with Soviet Union official
-Length of agreement
-“Cold War line”
-Brezhnev’s comments
-Trade relations
-Advantages
-Relations with US
-Relations with President
-Relations with US
-End of Vietnam War
-Restraint
-Brezhnev and Gromyko
-US embassy
-Trade expansion
-Brezhnev’s forthcoming visit to United States
-Importance to political leadership
-Age of Soviet Union leaders
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-Brezhnev’s age
-Senate Commerce Committee visit
-News stories
-Brezhnev consolidation of power
-Future leadership
-Brezhnev position
-Jewish emigration
-Henry M. (“Scoop”) Jackson
-Jackson-Vanik amendment
-Likelihood of action
-Brezhnev’s response to Senate Commerce Committee’s questions
-Internal policy
-Taxes
-Education tax
-Nikolai V. Podgorny and Aleksei Kosygin, and Supreme Soviet
-Need for Jackson-Vanik amendment
-Administrative fees
-National security
-Trade, Most Favored Nation [MFN] status
-Preparation, briefing paper
-Statistics
-Senate Commerce Committee’s potential public statements
Trade legislation
-Jackson-Vanik amendment
-Congressional support
-Russell B. Long
-Conditionality
-Soviet Union’s internal system
-Brezhnev’s ability to negotiate
-Brezhnev’s comments
-Possible conditions
-President’s conversations
-Jackson, Jacob K. Javitts, and Abraham A Ribicoff
-American Jewish leaders
-Risk to US-Soviet Union relations
-Pressure
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-American Jewish community
-Preferences
-Communication with Brezhnev
-Compared with relations with PRC
-President’s conversation with Chou En-Lai
-Conditions
-John T. Downey
-Jewish emigration
-Possible effect
-SALT II
-Importance
-Trade
-US-Soviet Union relations
-Middle East
-President’s support
-Congressional support
-Desire to emigrate
-Ukranians, Jews, Germans
-Latvians, Lithuanians
-Position of influence
-Jewish minority
-Historic persecution of Jews
-Spain, France, Great Britain, United States
-Poland
-Soviet Union
-Position of influence
-Senate Commerce Committee’s visit to USSR
-Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union [TASS]’s question to Baker
-Trade relations
-“Face-saving modification”
-Phraseology
-US-Soviet Union relations
-Conditions
-Ultimatum
-Sponsorship
-Javitts and Ribicoff
-Jackson
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-Anti-Communism
-Contrasted with President’s realism
-US-Soviet Union relations
-Changes
-Negotiations
-Possible effect of amendment
-Congressional responsibility
-Need for direction from White House
-Beall’s conversation with Maryland Jewish leaders
-President’s conversation with US Jewish leaders
-President’s assessment
Middle East
-Egypt, Israel
-Soviet Union’s role
-Survival of Israel
Trade legislation
-White House role
-Phraseology
-Jackson-Vanik amendment
-Votes
-Support
-World Peace
-Need for modification
-Disagreement
-George Meany
Howard W. Cannon’s meeting with Soviet Jewish leaders
-Group composition
-Applications to emigrate
-Effects
-Unemployment
-National Academy of Sciences employee
-Emigration tax
-Harassment
-Security clearances
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-Possible reason for denying applications
-Number of Soviet Jews desiring to emigrate
-2900
-Successful emigration
-Press coverage
-Effects
-Family members
-Disconnection of telephones
-Security risk of applicants
Trade legislation
-Brezhnev’s efforts
-President’s previous conversations
-Harassment of Soviet Jews
-Exit tax
-Progress of negotiations
-President’s forthcoming meeting with Brezhnev
-Potential response to Jackson-Vanik amendment
-MFN
-President’s view of problem
-Possible effects on US-Soviet Union relations
-Possible involvement of Department of Defense [DOD]
-Phraseology
-Griffin
-Javitts, Ribikoff
-Effects of forthcoming meetings
-Need for dialogue
-White House input on legislation
-Loophole
-Difficulties faced by Soviet Hews compared to other Soviet Union citizens
-Applicability of Soviet laws
-Early Soviet Union leaders
-Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Ilich Lenin
-Phraseology
-Griffin
-lfanigan
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President’s relationship with Brezhnev
-Bipartisan support
Emigration of Soviet Jews
-Small numbers
-Soviet national security
-US role
-Risk
Jackson
Senate Commerce Committee visit to Eastern Europe
-Report
-Warsaw, Poland, and Hungary
-Tone set by visit to Moscow
-Poland
-Meeting with Edward Gierek
-Visit to US
-[First name unknown] Pitka [?]
Griffin et al. left at 6:27 pm. An unknown man remained.
Trade legislation
-Education tax on Soviet Jews
-Effect on MFN
-Timing
-Kissinger’s return from Moscow
The unknown man left at 6:27 pm.
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