Office of the Historian

123. Memorandum From the Director of the United States Information Agency (Shakespeare) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

Washington, January 26, 1971

SUBJECT

  • Presidential Statement on European Integration

In recent months doubts have been expressed in European and American media concerning the firmness of American support for European integration. I think it would be useful for the President, in his forthcoming Foreign Policy Report2 or in another appropriate statement early in the year, to repledge our support for the Europeans’ own efforts toward unity.

In 1970 there were several positive examples of European concerted action—the European (NATO) Program for Defense Improvement,3 UK progress toward membership in the European Community,4 and the beginning of regular meetings of the Community’s Foreign Ministers. The U.S. publicly welcomed the NATO defense improvement [Page 307] program but generally refrained from favorable statements on the other actions. Meanwhile, well-advertized economic friction between the U.S. and the Community has raised questions about American policy on European integration.

Any statement the President makes should of course avoid the appearance of meddling; we would be commending the Europeans for actions they themselves have taken. At the same time, we should make it clear that we expect to defend our economic interests. The statement should, I think, include these points:

1) We welcome the recent positive actions by Western European nations as moves toward a greater European unity or “identity”;

2) We recognize the important contribution of this European process to the strength, stability and welfare of the world;

3) We wish to continue to cooperate with the Europeans as they progress toward greater unity. We may, of course, have differing views on particular questions.

Frank Shakespeare5
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 294, Agency Files, USIA—Vol. III—1971 [Jan–Dec 1971] [2 of 2]. Confidential. Attached as Tab B to a January 29 memorandum from Sonnenfeldt to Kissinger, in which Sonnenfeldt summarized Shakespeare’s memorandum and recommended that Kissinger sign an attached response to Shakespeare. Kissinger’s signed response, attached as Tab A and dated February 1, reads: “Your memorandum of January 26, 1971, on European integration was very timely since I have been working on the European Chapter of the President’s forthcoming report. It was good to get your thoughts. The points you make are central and will be covered in very much the terms you suggest.” (Ibid.)↩
  2. For the President’s second annual report on U.S. foreign policy, February 25, 1971, see Public Papers: Nixon, 1971, pp. 219–345. It is also printed in Department of State Bulletin, March 22, 1971, pp. 341–432, as U.S. Foreign Policy For the 1970’s: Building for Peace: A Report to the Congress by Richard Nixon, President of the United States. The White House also issued the report in the form of a 235-page booklet.↩
  3. The NATO Defense Planning Committee commissioned a study in May 1970 entitled Alliance Defense Problems for the 1970’s, colloquially known as AD–70. In December 1970, the NATO Ministerial meeting in Brussels issued a final communiqué, which included an annex entitled “Alliance Defence for the Seventies.” The annex noted that 10 members of NATO had agreed to adopt a European Defense Improvement Program (EDIP). For the text of the communiqué and the annex, see Department of State Bulletin, January 4, 1971, pp. 2–6. For additional information, see Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. XXXIX, European Security, footnote 2, Document 34 and footnote 15, Document 63. See also ibid., vol. XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969–1972, Document 56.↩
  4. In October 1971, the British Parliament voted to support the Heath government’s proposal to join the European Economic Community (EEC). For the text of a White House statement and Rogers’s October 28 statement regarding the decision, see Department of State Bulletin, November 22, 1971, p. 589. The United Kingdom formally entered the EEC in 1973.↩
  5. Shakespeare initialed “FS” above this typed signature.↩