THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

February 16, 1971

Dear Mr. Monnet:

Few men have been able to join vision with realism and depict the future to their contemporaries. Fewer have had the joy of seeing their vision fulfilled.

The devastation of World War II produced the imperative of a united Europe. Some considered the idea Utopian; others thought that this could be created by mere wish. You fashioned a model combining inspiration and realism. We see Europe's unity advancing every day and your guiding hand in each move forward. You have reason to be profoundly satisfied and we have reason to be forever grateful.

Mr. Jean Monnet
c/o Mr. Joseph E. Slater
Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies
600 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

2/16/71

To: John Brown

From: Win Lord

Dr. Kissinger has approved the attached
letter to Mr. Jean Monnet for the
President's signature. We need to have
it by 1:00 p.m., as Dr. Kissinger is
carrying the letter to New York this
afternoon.

This letter has the approval of Ray Price.

HAK TALKING POINTS

Jean Monnet Dinner

New York, Tuesday, February 16, 1971

1. President Nixon, who was Vice President under President Eisenhower, naturally regards U.S. relations with Western Europe as the keystone of our foreign policy. His first foreign trip as President was to Europe, and he has visited a second time. He regards consultation across the Atlantic as the highest priority of American policy.

2. But his concern is deeper than visits and consultation: He knows that the nations of Europe -- major powers by tradition and experience, vigorous in diplomacy, culture and economic strength -- are in a position to play a principal creative role in building a structure of relationships in the world that will preserve the peace in the coming decades.

3. The vitality of Western Europe today is a triumph. But it also poses an intellectual challenge to U.S. policy. The immediate postwar years were an extraordinary period: We were breaking with our history of isolation at the precise moment of Europe's prostration. Obviously, the style and substance of America's relationship with Europe cannot be the same in 1971 as it was in 1945. Our partnership -- once a vehicle for our underwriting of Europe's defense and recovery -- is now a more balanced and more dynamic coalition:

   -- Europe's new unity is one of the dramatic reasons. Europe will soon be in a position to forge an identity of its own. British entry -- and monetary union -- will make Europe a major economic power greater than the USSR and second only to the U.S.

   -- The complexity of coalition diplomacy among 15 independent-minded states is another new feature of our relationship. Our principal allies are asserting independent views in all areas of policy. We accept this, for it reflects their vitality.

4. This Administration has therefore adjusted the style of American leadership. We can no longer dominate; our task is to encourage and support the imagination and vigorous participation which our Western European partners can contribute to the world.

5. There are a number of specific challenges facing us, however:

   -- As Europe unites, wisdom and statesmanship on both sides of the Atlantic will be required if we are to preserve cooperation in economic, political, and military relations.

-2-

-- We will have to harmonize our policies, particularly in the quest for detente, to insure their complementarity and to preserve the Western cohesion and stability of the military balance that make detente possible.

-- We will have to learn to share the psychological burdens of leadership in the making of common policies, as well as the physical burdens of carrying them out.

-- We can deepen our cooperation, on the basis of shared experience, in attacking the technological, environmental, and social problems of modern societies.

6. The United States will play a role of leadership, commensurate with its position in the world. But we see partnership as the means to our common ends.

TALKING POINTS
for Meeting with Jean Monnet February 16

1. Despite the strong U.S. political support for the Community and for its enlargement, trade and economic problems are growing more severe between us.

2. We find ourselves locking horns with the Community on a growing number of economic issues:

- The Common Agricultural Policy, with its high grain prices and its inclusion of new commodities such as tobacco.

- The expansion of the Community's preferential arrangements with Mediterranean and African developing countries.

- An uneasiness in trading circles about the effects on the United States of Community expansion, without the rewards of political unity.

- Disquiet about future Community investment policies and the formulation of the Common Industrial Policy.

3. If strong economic interests in the United States begin to regard the Community as harmful to them, it becomes more difficult for the United States to pursue its overall European policy -- let alone its continued support for the EC itself.

4. Protectionist sentiment here has risen markedly, mainly because of a feeling that the United States is not gaining reciprocal advantages from the present trade situation. Many believe that the Community is ignoring its GATT obligations. Protectionists use EC and Japanese policies as

- 2 -

a major excuse for domestic restrictions, and those policies are alienating
some of the few remaining supporters of liberal trade, i. e. the agricultural
community.

5. This dangerous situation can be met only with some new liberal trade initiative.

6. The United States, unfortunately, is not in a very good position to take that initiative. Neither are the Japanese. The Community is the only candidate, and we regard it as a quite logical possibility, since the expanded EC will soon account for about one-half of world trade.

7. A dramatic change in atmosphere would come from a Community announcement that, as soon as the entry negotiations are complete, it would be prepared to enter into a new round of trade negotiations. This would help us all get past the many issues that are bound to arise with UK entry, and which will exacerbate protectionist sentiment in the U.S. in the absence of some countervailing initiative.

8. The Action Committee should therefore use all its influence with the Commission, particularly with Malfatti prior to his visit with the President, as well as with the member governments to persuade them to take this step.

9. There is a related question of whether there is a need for a new mechanism for intensified consultations between the Community and the United States, perhaps even embracing one or two other major trading powers. What do you think would be helpful in this line?

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

February 16, 1971

Partial list of those attending New York dinner for Jean Monnet, Tuesday, February 16:

John J. McCloy
Robert O. Anderson
Joseph E. Slater
Henry A. Kissinger

on dais

Senator and Mrs. Javits
Mayor Lindsay (drop by)
George W. Ball
Robert Bowie
Mr. and Mrs. McGeorge Bundy
General William Draper
Mr. and Mrs. George Franklin
Averell Harriman
Mr. Max Kohnstamm
French Amb. to UN and Mme. Kosciusko-Morizet
Mr. and Mrs. James Reston
Shepard Stone
Leonard B. Tennyson
Prof. and Mrs. Robert Crippen
Elisha Walker, Jr.

plus a few other personal friends of Monnet and the trustees of the Aspen Institute.

- 2 -

Mr. Robert V. Hansberger, Aspen Trustee

Mrs. Robert V. Hansberger

The Honorable W. Averell Harriman

Miss Ferne Hudson, Aspen Institute

Mr. Robert S. Ingersoll, Aspen Trustee

Mrs. Robert S. Ingersoll

Senator Jacob K. Javits

The Honorable Henry A. Kissinger

Mr. Max Kohnstamm

His Excellency Jacques Kosciusko-Morizet

Madame Jacques Kosciusko-Morizet

The Honorable John V. Lindsay

Mrs. John J. McCloy

The Honorable George C. McGhee, Aspen Trustee

Mrs. George C. McGhee

Mr. James Reston

Mrs. James Reston

Dr. Walter O. Roberts, Aspen Trustee

Mr. Leo H. Schoenhofen, Aspen Trustee

Mrs. Leo H. Schoenhofen

Mrs. J. E. Slater

Mr. Shepard Stone

The Honorable Phillips Talbot, Aspen Trustee

Mrs. Phillips Talbot

Mr. Leonard B. Tennyson

Mrs. William Tomlinson

Professor Robert Triffin

Mrs. Robert Triffin

Mr. Rowan A. Wakefield, Aspen Institute

Mrs. Rowan A. Wakefield

Mr. Elisha Walker, Jr.

February 16, 1971

SPEECH BY JEAN MONNET IN NEW YORK
ASPEN INSTITUTE AWARD DINNER
FEBRUARY 16, 1971

I

I SHOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU, MR. ANDERSON, MR. SLATER, AND
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE, FOR BRINGING TOGETHER AGAIN THIS EVENING
MANY OF MY WARTIME AND PEACETIME FRIENDS.

THERE ARE OTHERS WHO UNFORTUNATELY ARE NO LONGER WITH US,
BUT I SHOULD LIKE TO RECALL THEIR MEMORY, AND PARTICULARLY
THE MEMORY OF FELIX FRANKFURTER AND DON SWATLAND, WHO, DURING
THAT DIFFICULT WARTIME PERIOD, WERE NOT ONLY OUR FRIENDS BUT
THE COUNSELLORS OF ALL OF US.

I WILL NOT BORE YOU WITH A LONG SPEECH. THIS AFTERNOON
SOME OF YOU, TOGETHER WITH MYSELF, TOOK PART IN A ROUND TABLE
AND DISCUSSED THE TECHNICAL ASPECT OF SOME OF THE PROBLEMS
RAISED BY THE CREATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE.

THIS EVENING I SHALL LIMIT MYSELF TO A FEW BRIEF REMARKS ON HOW
WE MADE A START ON THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE.

2

[lc]

SOME OF YOU -- MR. McCLOY, AMONG OTHERS -- WERE IN ON
THE ORIGINS OF THIS GREAT ENTERPRISE.

MR. McCLOY WILL REMEMBER HOW, AT THE PETERSBERG MEETING,
BEFORE SEEING KONRAD ADENAUER, I HAD TO ACCOUNT FOR MYSELF
TO THE HIGH COMMISSION. GERMANY WAS OCCUPIED, AND I COULD NOT
TALK TO KONRAD ADENAUER WITHOUT THE AGREEMENT OF THE COMMISSION.

MR. McCLOY'S ACTION AT THIS MOMENT WAS DECISIVE: THE PRESENT DEVELOPMENT WHICH WE CAN SEE GOING ON IN GERMANY TODAY -- THIS EQUALITY BETWEEN GERMANY AND THE OTHER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE -- IS PARTLY DUE TO THE PERSONAL ACTION OF MR. McCLOY.

II

LOOKING BACK TO THOSE DAYS, I REMEMBER THAT THE DISCUSSIONS CENTERED ON THE FUTURE OF GERMANY AND OF EUROPE: WERE WE LOOKING FOR PEACE ON THE 1918 MODEL? I. E. -- DOMINATION -- OR SHOULD WE TRY TO CREATE CONDITIONS OF EQUALITY? IT WAS EQUALITY WE SOUGHT, AND IT IS EQUALITY BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES OF EUROPE, WHICH HAS BEEN THE BASIS OF THE WHOLE EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION WHICH WE ARE PURSUING TODAY.

BUT THIS CONCEPT OF EQUALITY HAD TO BE GIVEN CONCRETE FORM. THESE COUNTRIES, SO HOSTILE TO EACH OTHER IN THE PAST, HAD TO BE INDUCED TO PURSUE A COMMON TASK TOGETHER.

3

A COMMON INTEREST HAD TO BE CREATED. THE NECESSITY THAT PROMPTED US TO ACT AT THAT TIME STILL PREVAILS TODAY. UNION IS NOT NATURAL TO MEN AND THEY MUST BE IMPELLED TO IT BY THE FORCE OF EVENTS.

HOW DID WE GO ABOUT IT?

WE FOLLOWED THE MODEL SET BY THE CONDITIONS EXISTING IN OUR COUNTRIES. THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF EUROPE BEGAN TO ORGANIZE THEMSELVES TOGETHER, AND TO DEAL TOGETHER WITH PROBLEMS WHICH, IN THE PAST, HAD BEEN HANDLED NATIONALLY. WE BEGAN TO ADOPT COMMON RULES AND COMMON INSTITUTIONS TO HANDLE THEM, TRANSFERRING NATIONAL POWER TO THE INSTITUTIONS SO CREATED.

ALL THIS LOOKS VERY SIMPLE BUT IMPLIES A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE BEEN THE BASIS OF RELATIONS BETWEEN PEOPLES FOR CENTURIES PAST.

4.

III

IT WAS ESSENTIAL TO PREVENT THE RETURN OF NATIONALISM
AND OF THE SPIRIT OF DOMINATION WHICH HAD LED EUROPE TO
CATASTROPHE -- LEADING TO CONFLICTS IN WHICH YOU YOURSELVES
WERE INVOLVED.

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY EMERGED AS THE CONTEXT IN WHICH
THE CITIZENS OF OUR COUNTRIES COULD LIVE IN EQUALITY AND OBEY
THE SAME RULES, UNDER COMMON INSTITUTIONS, JUST AS THEY LIVED
WITHIN THEIR NATIONAL FRONTIERS.

BY THE CREATION OF COMMON RULES, THE CREATION OF
COMMON INSTITUTIONS -- TO WHICH THE POWERS OF DECISIONS WERE
TRANSFERRED FROM THE NATIONAL COUNTRIES -- WE ARE NOW BEGINNING
TO ACCEPT, IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN OUR OLD AND OFTEN HOSTILE NATIONS,
THE VERY PRINCIPLES THAT GUIDED US WITHIN OUR FRONTIERS --
ALL THAT IS THE PROCESS OF CIVILIZATION.

NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TO ESTABLISH THE FORMS
WHICH WILL GOVERN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN MEN.

5.

IV

THIS TRANSFORMATION WHICH IS TAKING PLACE IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE STATES OF EUROPE IS ONLY A BEGINNING.

THERE IS ALREADY A EUROPEAN COMMON MARKET -- GREAT BRITAIN WILL HAVE JOINED EUROPE TOMORROW -- IN A FEW YEARS THERE WILL BE A EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION, RESEMBLING IN ECONOMIC MATTERS THE FORMS THAT EXIST IN YOUR COUNTRY.

ALL THIS NECESSARILY LEADS TO A POLITICAL AUTHORITY AMONG THE NATIONS CONCERNED. OF THESE DEVELOPMENTS, PRESIDENT NIXON POINTED OUT IN HIS REPORT TO THE CONGRESS ON FOREIGN POLICY LAST FEBRUARY "THAT A TRULY UNIFIED EUROPE WILL BE A GAIN TO THE POLITICAL VITALITY OF THE WEST AS A WHOLE."

TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE, THE CREATION OF A UNITED STATES OF EUROPE IS NECESSARY.

COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND WESTERN EUROPE IS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT IN THE WORLD BALANCE. IT MUST TAKE ON NEW FORM AS PROGRESS IS MADE IN THE INTEGRATION OF EUROPE.

6.

THESE DEVELOPMENTS ARE THE BEST HOPE OF MANKIND IN THE
PRESERVATION OF PEACE AND THE ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT.
BUT IT MUST DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH THE DIFFICULTIES WE FACE, AND
FOR THIS CONCRETE ACTIONS ARE NECESSARY.

AT THIS MOMENT, ONLY PART OF THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
HAVE BEEN TACKLED BETWEEN EUROPE AS SUCH AND THE UNITED STATES,
NAMELY, THE TARIFF ARRANGEMENTS CALLED "THE KENNEDY ROUND."

WHILE THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS CAN BE DEALT WITH BY THE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND THE UNITED STATES -- ALL OTHER PROBLEMS
STILL HAVE TO BE DEALT WITH, UP TO NOW, BY THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA AND THE INDIVIDUAL NATIONS OF EUROPE.

THE PROBLEM OF COMMON DEFENSE, FOR EXAMPLE -- WHILE
ADVANCED THROUGH NATO -- HAS YET TO BE SOLVED. I BELIEVE THAT
NO SEPARATE NATIONS IN EUROPE CAN BRING ADEQUATE CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE COMMON TASK. ONLY EUROPE AS A WHOLE CAN SATISFACTORILY
CONTRIBUTE. THIS ALSO GOES FOR MANY OTHER PROBLEMS, SUCH AS THE
MONETARY PROBLEM.

[i]

7.

I HOPE FOR THE PEACE OF THE WORLD AND FOR THE UNITED STATES ITSELF, THAT GREAT ENTITIES WILL BE CREATED IN THE WORLD WHICH CAN DEAL ON AN EQUAL FOOTING -- EUROPE IS BEGINNING TO DO SO -- AND I HOPE THAT IN A FEW YEARS OF EFFORT OUR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WILL HAVE CREATED THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE.

MEMORANDUM

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

25816

ACTION

February 9, 1971

MEMORANDUM FOR MR. KISSINGER

FROM: Helmut Sonnenfeldt

SUBJECT: Proposal that the President Send Message to Jean Monnet Aspen Award Dinner in New York City on February 16

In the attached letter (Tab A) Joe Slater asks whether the President could send a message to the Monnet ceremony. The President has in the last two years sent a number of messages to groups concerned with Atlantic and European affairs and I believe that another one would simply produce additional requests for an unending stream for such messages. The Annual Review will in any case be a forceful reaffirmation of support for progress toward European integration and Atlantic cooperation.

Assuming you will be able to attend the dinner on February 16, I don't know whether you will be called upon to say anything. If so, you could of course mention the President's regard for Monnet. You may want to explain to Joe Slater the problem with sending an excessive number of Presidential messages to events of this sort.

RECOMMENDATION

That you agree that no Presidential message be sent to the Monnet dinner.

Approve (no message) ____

Disapprove (draft message) ____

New York Office
600 Fifth Avenue
New York, N. Y. 10020
(212) 246-5405

ASPEN INSTITUTE FOR HUMANISTIC STUDIES ASPEN, COLORADO

Founded by Walter P. Paepcke 1949

JOSEPH ELLIOTT SLATER
President

New York, New York

January 18, 1971

PERSONAL

The Honorable Henry Kissinger
The White House
Washington, D. C. 20500

Dear Henry:

Once again I am delighted that you are planning to attend the Jean Monnet Aspen Award Ceremony and Dinner in New York on February 16, 1971, and I hope that you will also attend the 4:00 p.m. Seminar if your schedule will permit.

This note is to ask if you think The President would be willing to send a message which could be read at the dinner. Monsieur Monnet will make a policy statement which will focus on the broad and enduring objectives of nations working together, rather than on any special development or particular new item. We plan to have members of the news media in attendance.

Our Aspen citation reads:

"Special Award of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies
Jean Monnet

Humanist and Statesman
Father of a United Europe

Recognized that changing conditions in the search for peace required new concepts and new conditions."

Appreciate your help, as always -- and I hope that we will have the opportunity to catch up one of these days. In any event, I look forward to seeing you on February 16.

Warm personal regards,