Office of the Historian

204. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, October 6, 1975, 9:20 a.m.–10:23 a.m.

PARTICIPANTS

  • President Gerald R. Ford
  • Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
  • Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

Kissinger: I had opposed not putting Chile on the FMS because it would be knocked off. Now State wants to list them as non-complying with human rights and that is why they were knocked off. Now I think we should put Chile back on and let Congress knock it off. I don’t think we should link FMS with human rights.

The President: I agree. That would be setting a very bad precedent. It could be applied almost anyplace.

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Chile.]

  1. Summary: Kissinger and Ford agreed that the administration should request Congress for FMS credits for Chile.

    Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversations, Box 15, Ford, Kissinger, October 6, 1975. Secret; Nodis. In a telephone conversation at 8:10 p.m. on October 6, Kissinger told Rogers that he opposed making an issue of FMS sales to Chile under Section 502(b) of the 1974 Foreign Assistance Act. Rogers responded that, “we do not disqualify Chile under that [Section],” and that Chile was not slated to receive any FMS credits in any case. (Department of State, Electronic Reading Room, Kissinger Transcripts)

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