Office of the Historian

39. National Security Decision Memorandum 751

Washington, August 7, 1970.

TO

  • The Vice President
  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Defense
  • The Secretary of the Treasury
  • The Attorney General
  • The Secretary of Commerce
  • The Director, Office of Emergency Preparedness

SUBJECT

  • Rhodesia Sanctions

After a review of this matter, the President has decided to continue fully to implement the UN Security Council Resolutions regarding trade with Rhodesia. The President has therefore directed that the United States Government continue to refuse to license import of Rhodesian goods by any firm which entered into a transaction after the effective date of the Executive Order prohibiting such imports. The Presi [Page 114] dent has also directed that the Department of State initiate forthwith an active effort—in concert with the United Kingdom—to insure better compliance by other industrial nations with the Rhodesian embargo. In this regard, the President wishes that particular attention be paid to more careful scrutiny of nominally non-Rhodesian chrome imports.

In the interest of reducing undue hardship on American firms arising from our implementation of the embargo, the President has decided that:

1.
Contingent upon confirmation by the Treasury Department that the facts are as stated by Union Carbide, a “hardship exception” license should be granted to Union Carbide for the importation of the 150,000 tons of Rhodesian chromite ore for which it had paid prior to the effective date of the Executive Order prohibiting such imports.
2.
U.S. firms with assets in Rhodesia will be permitted to sell those assets to any buyer.
3.
The Treasury Department will insure that all U.S. firms affected by the Rhodesian sanctions or by Rhodesian currency restrictions are aware of all tax relief provisions available to them under existing United States laws and regulations.

The Under Secretaries Committee will periodically review the domestic and international supply situation on chrome, and call forthwith to the President’s attention any change which threatens our strategic needs for this commodity. For this purpose, representatives of the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness shall be members of the Committee.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 363, Subject Files, National Security Decision Memoranda. Secret; Nodis. Haig initialed the memorandum. Copies were sent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of Central Intelligence.↩