161. Minutes of a Cabinet Meeting1
The seventy-fourth meeting of the Cabinet was called to order by the President at 11:00 a.m. The Vice President and all members of the Cabinet were present except Secretary Goldschmidt, who was represented by Deputy Secretary Beckam. In addition, the following people were in attendance:
| Rosalynn Carter | Sol Linowitz |
| Max Cleland | Gus Speth |
| Douglas Costle | Stansfield Turner |
| Roland Freeman | Jack Watson |
| Rex Granum | Anne Wexler |
| Thomas Higgins | Eugene Eidenberg |
| Bruce Kirschenbaum |
1. The President opened the meeting by expressing his gratitude to the members of the Cabinet for their work during his administration. He commented on their fine working relationship, and said they had made a significant contribution to the country. He said the transition had been both graceful and generous so far, and mentioned that his meeting with President-elect Reagan had gone well.2
—The President reminded the Cabinet that this administration still had the authority and responsibility to run the government and urged them not to be timid in exercising that authority.
—The President encouraged the Cabinet to compile an accurate historical record of their time in office, and to be aggressive in disseminating that record.
—The President also reported his plans to return to Plains, Georgia, after the inauguration. He said he and his family would make their home there, although he would spend some portion of his time in Atlanta, where the Presidential papers would be housed until a library is built.
—The President told the Cabinet they would be receiving information prepared by Lloyd Cutler, Counsel to the President, concerning the identification and handling of Presidential papers.
[Page 802]—The President commented on the preparation of the FY 1982 budget. He said it would be restrained while at the same time honoring commitments of the Democratic Party. He praised the Congress for its recent approval of the Alaska Lands Bill, and the creation of a “superfund” to clean up toxic wastes. The President asked if any Cabinet members wanted to make any comment.
2. The Vice President began his remarks by stating that history would deal more kindly with the Carter Administration than had the voters.
—He mentioned especially the record established in behalf of human rights, saying that the U.S. had asserted fundamental American values.
—He said that the U.S. had been at peace during the Carter years, and noted the absence of any major scandal touching the presidency. Finally, the Vice President praised Mrs. Carter for her graceful tenure as First Lady.
[Omitted here are comments by McIntyre, Miller, the President, Schultze, and Muskie.]
8. The President commented on some of the difficulties in providing leadership to the Western Alliance.
—The President also reviewed the difficulties involved in achieving the release of the American hostages in Iran, while noting that over 50,000 Americans had been safely removed from that country.
—He reported that the last U.S. response to Iran’s conditions for the hostages’ release preserved American honor and integrity.
—The President also expressed his appreciation for Ambassador Linowitz’s work on the Egyptian/Israeli negotiations. He said he encouraged President-elect Reagan to maintain the Camp David process and stated that both President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin want it to continue.
—Finally, the President expressed the hope that the new administration would state publicly that the new provisions of SALT II would govern American policy until either the Treaty was ratified or new agreements were achieved. The President observed that the SALT II Treaty effectively protects U.S. interests.
9. Secretary Brown noted that a dramatic change had occurred in the American public’s attitudes toward defense in the last four years. He said he believed a consensus had emerged in support of a responsible growth in military power. Mr. Brown pointed out that there were greater moral restraints on our use of power than the Soviets. He concluded with a statement of personal respect for the President.
10. The President responded by saying he thought relationships between the State Department, Defense Department and NSC had been [Page 803] mostly harmonious. He suggested that reports of divisions had been exaggerated by the press. The President said he had made the final decisions, and that he was proud of the Administration’s legacy in foreign affairs.
[Omitted here are comments by Askew.]
12. The President commented that many of the Administration’s foreign policy initiatives had been difficult politically, but were good for the country.
13. Mr. Brzezinski, Assistant to the President for National Security, observed that the President had fashioned a foreign policy that fused principle with power. He said that these two concepts no longer needed to be viewed as antithetical. He also warned that the foreign affairs of the U.S. could not be conducted effectively without a President who takes an active role in them.
[Omitted here are comments by Harris.]
15. Ambassador McHenry praised the President for his sensitivity to civil rights issues, as well as the opening toward Africa. He said that during the Carter Administration relations with the new nations of Africa were greatly strengthened.
[Omitted here are comments by the President and Hufstedler.]
18. The President concluded the Cabinet Meeting at 12:10 p.m. by expressing the hope that the achievements of the Administration would be neither denigrated or ignored. The President and Mrs. Carter left the Cabinet Room to standing and sustained applause.
Respectfully submitted,
- Source: Carter Library, Vertical File, Cabinet Meeting Minutes, 12/21/78–12/13/80. No classification marking. The President wrote “ok. J” in the top right-hand corner of the first page of the minutes.↩
- The President met with Reagan in the Oval Office on November 20 from 2:07 until 3:32 p.m. (Carter Library, Presidential Materials, President’s Daily Diary) For Carter’s recollection of the meeting, see White House Diary, pp. 486–487.↩