5. Memorandum From the Presidentʼs Deputy Assistant (Butterfield) to the Presidentʼs Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1
The following account appeared, among others, in the Staff and Department Briefs prepared for the President on May 24:
“Astronaut Frank Borman arrived in Prague on May 20 to attend the May 12–24 International Committee on Space Research and present a paper. NASA arranged his invitation with State concurrence. He was welcomed by Czech officials and greeted tumultuously by airport workers, and the arrival was well covered by Czech journalists and radio-TV people. However, the TV program was not permitted to go out over the Czech network. Although Borman has been recognized everywhere, and enthusiastically welcomed in Prague, public references to the visit have been limited and two TV shows which he taped were not transmitted. Czech journalists report severe restrictions on their coverage of the visit.”
With reference to this news item the President directed these comments to you:
“Henry, I believe we could needle our Moscow friends by arranging more visits to the Eastern European countries. The people in those countries, if given a chance, will welcome our Cabinet officers and others with great enthusiasm. It is time we start causing them some trouble.”2
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 672, Country Files, Europe, Czechoslovakia, Vol. I. No classification marking.↩
- In a June 5 memorandum to Butterfield, Kissinger replied: “The President took up this subject at the Cabinet-NSC meeting on Tuesday, June 3. I think he has made his guidelines and desires clear, and thus I see no need for further comments.” (Ibid.)↩