Office of the Historian

324. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1

Washington, April 10, 1970.

SUBJECT

  • Your Position on British Entry into the Common Market

Secretary Rogers has sent you an urgent memorandum (Tab A)2 reporting that, according to a British démarche at the State Department, President Pompidou is telling people that you, in effect, do not favor early British entry into the Common Market.

Secretary Rogers recommends that you reiterate to Brandt3 that our support for strengthening and enlargement of the Common Market is undiminished—the formula used in your foreign policy report to the Congress.

[Page 979]

General Walters’ records of your talks with Pompidou4 do not indicate that you said anything that would be inconsistent with giving support to British entry into the Common Market.

Recommendation

Consequently, I believe it would be desirable, if the opportunity arises in your further talks with Brandt, for you to state that we remain in support of the Common Market and its enlargement.5

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 726, Country Files—Europe, United Kingdom, Vol. II. Secret. Sent for action.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. West German Chancellor Willy Brandt visited Washington April 7–11.↩
  4. See Document 141.↩
  5. A handwritten note by Haldeman at the bottom of the page reads: “K—This arrived for the Pres—after Brandt had departed. H”.↩