612. Memorandum From Gordon Chase of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)1
SUBJECT
- 20th General Assembly—Strategy Session
On Saturday, there was rather a large meeting in State to discuss strategy for the 20th General Assembly which is scheduled to start on September 21. Rusk chaired the meeting which included Ball, Goldberg (accompanied by assorted aides), Tommy Thompson, Mann, Butch Fisher, Rostow, a number of regional and functional Assistant Secretaries, and a health contingent from IO. Here are the major items of discussion.
[Here follows discussion of unrelated topics.]
9. South Africa and Apartheid—Goldberg said that we must do something about our posture on this issue and went on to propose that the U.S. Government announce publicly a voluntary program to curb U.S. investment in South Africa. The proposal brought forth a number of reservations. Rusk said that moving into the human rights field with sanctions poses some tough problems and wondered what we are prepared to do about, for instance, Eastern Europe, Liberia, and countries with one-party regimes. Ball said that we could not expect the British to join us in this effort, and that the South Africans would surely retaliate in one way or another; as a matter of fact, there might be actions South Africa could take in the economic field that would really hurt. Ball went on to say that a voluntary program wouldn’t work anyway. Others noted the ambiguity of the Africans themselves, some of whom still trade with South Africa.
Goldberg rebutted. It is true that we can’t solve all the human rights problems of the world, but apartheid is something special; its enormity makes it so. We simply must square our position on this issue with our efforts in this area in our own country. And remember, we are not talking about sanctions but about a voluntary program. Soapy Williams supported Goldberg, noting that such a program would make us a lot more credible with the Africans. He went on to rebut the argument that such a voluntary program wouldn’t work. Among other things, he said that banks are frequently asked by potential investors about prospects in South Africa and that the banks, at present, cannot discourage these [Page 1041] people because “the Government has not taken a stance.” Williams went on to say that his talks with one big investor—Engelhart (phonetic)—indicate that he probably would not have gone in to South Africa had he clearly known our views.
[Here follows discussion of another subject.]
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Africa, Union of South, Vol. II, 11/64–9/66. Secret. Copies were sent to Bator, Cooper, Johnson, Keeny, and Komer of the NSC Staff.↩