Office of the Historian

353. Memorandum From Peter Rodman of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

Washington, April 13, 1972.

SUBJECT

  • Talk Between Bahr and Emissary of Brezhnev [less than 1 line not declassified] report of a conversation on March 30 between Egon Bahr and Valery Lednev, an editor of Izvestia and personal emissary of Brezhnev (Tab A).2

Bahr briefed the Russian on his talks with you and Rush, and explained the parliamentary processes and prospects of treaty ratification. [2 lines not declassified]

Among the interesting points:

  • —Bahr said you were working on the premise that the Treaties would be ratified [less than 1 line not declassified].
  • —Bahr had asked Rush to write to Barzel to push the Treaties along [less than 1 line not declassified].
  • —Bahr was concerned that the U.S. stance appeared to be neutral, which was not consistent with the President’s statements on Berlin [less than 1 line not declassified].
  • —Bahr was hoping the U.S.-Soviet summit would produce a joint statement on the Berlin Accords, which would imply that international policies depended on Treaty ratification [less than 1 line not declassified].
  • —Bahr interpreted a remark by you to mean that the U.S. and PRC had concluded a nonaggression pact in Peking [less than 1 line not declassified].
  • —Bahr emphasized that the GDR should concede nothing on liberalizing West-East Travel until the CDU made concessions on the Treaties. [less than 1 line not declassified].
  • —[2 lines not declassified]

Should this go to Sonnenfeldt?3

  1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Advisor Files, Kissinger & Scowcroft West Wing Office Files, Box 35, West Germany—Egon Bahr Communications. Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information. A handwritten note indicates that the memorandum was “OBE,” overtaken by events. According to another covering memorandum, Kissinger received a copy of the attached report on April 7. For a discussion between Kissinger and Rush on the report, see Document 351.↩
  2. Tab A, a report of a conversation between Bahr and Valeriy Vladimovich Lednev, which took place in Berlin on March 30 (9 pages), was not declassified. For Bahr’s record of the meeting, see Dokumente zur Deutschlandpolitik, Series VI, Vol. 2/1, 1. Januar 1971 bis 31. Dezember 1972: Die Bahr–Kohl Gespräche 1970–1973, pp. 503–505. For background on the relationship between Bahr and Lednev, see Document 138.↩
  3. Kissinger did not indicate a decision on this question.↩