Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XIX, South Asia

200. Memorandum From Secretary of State Muskie to President Carter¹

Washington, September 16, 1980

[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]

3. Meetings with Senators on Tarapur: I met separately with the Republican Policy Group and with Democratic Senators to present our position on Tarapur. The sessions gave me an excellent opportunity to lay out the facts and to encourage support. Bill Saxbe, a former Ambassador to India, attended the Republican meeting and firmly and convincingly supported going ahead with the two shipments. Howard Baker and Chuck Percy also endorsed your decision. Other than a few skeptical questions, no strong opposition was put forth and we made good progress.² The Democratic meeting went well also, although only about 15 Senators attended. Frank Church described the decision as a “close call” and argued that in such cases you should be given the benefit of the doubt, especially by Democrats. Paul Sarbanes and Pat Moynihan were also helpful. John Glenn repeated his well-known arguments but didn’t seem to make much headway. (U)

[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]

1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 23, Evening Reports (State): 9/80. Secret. Carter wrote “Ed, J” at the top of the memorandum.
2. In the right-hand margin next to this paragraph, Carter wrote: “This is very important.”