UNITED STATES SENATE
WASHINGTON, D. C.

December 14, 1973

STROM THURMOND
SOUTH CAROLINA

Doctor Henry Kissinger
Secretary of State
Department of State
Washington, D. C.

Dear Doctor Kissinger:

Once again, the Christmas Season is here and we join
you in celebrating the birth of Christ. This year the
Thurmond family has much for which to be thankful. We
hope that you, too, are enjoying the freedom and other
blessings of this great country in the Holiday Season.

In 1972 we made a donation to charity rather than
sending Christmas cards, and we shall continue that
practice this year, with the hope of brightening the
Christmas Season for some of those who are less
fortunate.

We appreciated hearing from you, and Nancy and the
children join me in extending our kindest regards,
best wishes and Greetings of the Season to you and
your family.

ST:mo

JOHN C. STENNIS, MISS., CHAIRMAN

STUART SYMINGTON, MO.
HENRY M. JACKSON, WASH.
SAM J. ERVIN, JR., N.C.
HOWARD W. CANNON, NEV.
THOMAS J. MCINTYRE, N.H.
HARRY F. BYRD, JR., VA.
HAROLD E. HUGHES, IOWA
SAM NUNN, GA.

STROM THURMOND, S.C.
JOHN TOWER, TEX.
PETER H. DOMINICK, COLO.
BARRY GOLDWATER, ARIZ.
WILLIAM B. SAXBE, OHIO
WILLIAM L. SCOTT, VA.

T. EDWARD BRASWELL, JR., CHIEF COUNSEL AND STAFF DIRECTOR

United States Senate

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510

January 10, 1974

Secretary Henry A. Kissinger
Department of State
2201 C Street
Washington, D. C. 20520

Dear Mr. Secretary:

Thank you for sending me the personally autographed
photograph of you which I requested.

Your cooperation and promptness in this matter are
deeply appreciated, and your picture will be framed and
hung in my Senate office.

Hope you are doing nicely, and with kindest personal
regards,

ST:t

RECEIVED
PARTMENT OF STATE

4 JAN 15 AM 9 13

FADRC
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS

STUART SYMINGTON, MO.
HENRY M. JACKSON, WASH.
SAM J. ERVIN, JR., N.C.
HOWARD W. CANNON, NEV.
THOMAS J. MC INTYRE, N.H.
HARRY F. BYRD, JR., VA.
HAROLD E. HUGHES, IOWA
SAM NUNN, GA.

United States Senate

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510

February 25, 1974

PERSONAL ATTENTION

Honorable Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
2201 C Street
Washington, D.C.

Dear Doctor Kissinger:

I want to thank you for your letter of February 19 concerning Marion Smoak.

Before we put this case to rest, however, I want to be certain that you understand the facts fully as I see them.

You have stated that it would be "somewhat irregular" at this time to give Marion the title of Chief of Protocol. I want to point out that the irregularity in this matter is the fact that he has been in an "acting" position now for almost two years, during which time he has done, by all standards, an outstanding job. No other principal officer in the Department of State, or the Federal Government, for that matter, has been treated in this fashion. Further, there is precedent for this since President Johnson did exactly the same thing by appointing Tyler Able as Chief of Protocol at the very end of his Administration.

The point is that by our failure to act we are creating a situation that is going to bring unfavorable press reaction at a time when it can be least afforded.

The solution to this problem is so simple; Marion has already been confirmed by the Senate so that we are talking about a routine administrative procedure only, which I am told, would not even require your signature.

Surely this is not too much to ask for a man who has been a loyal and hard-working supporter of the President for many years. I sincerely hope that you will take the necessary action to name Marion Smoak Chief of Protocol without further delay, even though he will bear the title for only a brief period.

ST/b

STROM THURMOND
SOUTH CAROLINA

United States Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510

December 23, 1974

Secretary and Mrs. Henry A. Kissinger
Department of State
2201 C Street
Washington, D. C. 20520

Dear Secretary and Mrs. Kissinger:

Christmas is here once again, and we join you
in celebrating this Season. The Thurmond family
is thankful for the many blessings we enjoy.

Nancy and I wish you and your family a Christmas
filled with joy and a New Year filled with good
health and happiness.

Please call on me if I can ever be of assistance
to you or your family.

With kindest regards and Greetings of the Season,

P.S. Enclosed is a recent photograph of the
Thurmond family that I thought you might like
to have.

(NOT PRINTED AT GOVERNMENT EXPENSE)

THE SECRETARY OF STATE
WASHINGTON

January 15, 1975

Dear Strom and Nancy:

Nancy and I are delighted with the
generous supply of pecans which we received
from you again this year.

We appreciate your kindness and send
you our best wishes for the New Year.

The Honorable
Strom Thurmond
and Mrs. Thurmond,
4241 New Senate Office Building,
Washington, D. C.

HAK;ba

July 25, 1974

The Honorable Henry Kissinger
Secretary of State
Department of State
Washington, D.C.

My dear Mr. Secretary:

This is a small personal note with a smile in it:

Sophie Thygeson is a sturdy California lady who has just passed her 106th birthday. Until two years ago she insisted on living alone in her own small house near Stanford University, though she consented to a student couple living at the other end of the garden.

Thygie, as her family and friends all call her, was an early suffragette, co-worker with "argaret Sanger, and c. courageously and stubbornly active in various good causes all her life. But like many other such "socially conscious" people she was domineering, belligerent and critical with her own children, so that she "along since lost them as friends. Out of rueful sympathy with her prickly independence and talent for general hell-raising in her well-mannered way, her very busy daughter-in-law came almost daily from 20 miles away to provide food she liked, and to give her a little of the attention her alienated children could not bring themselves to provide. (I have a delightful relationship with her, full of fun and laughter,— having no responsibility for her and being rarely in California.)

She is now in a nursing home. Her sight and hearing have nearlyدت her and she has periods of what she calls "going away for a little while"; but she is perfectly aware of this. At other times she can be entirely alert, decisive in her opinions, maddeningly demanding in the most imperial well-bred manner, and really interested in what goes on in the world. She keeps track of César Chavez and his lettuce- and grape-pickers' union, for instance, although she remarked that she prefers people to be successful in what they undertake, none of this shilly-shallying around.

One day lately her daughter-in-law, Ruth Lee Thygeson, gave her a shampoo and a manicure and then sat quietly with her for a while as she seemed to drift off to sleep. But when Ruth Lee thought she might slip away, Thygie reached out to pin her firmly by the wrist and say, in her still beautiful voice: "Tell me, dearie, what is Kissinger up to?"

"I've not told anyone I am writing you this and it is unnecessary to acknowledge it to me. But you might feel like sending Mrs. Thygeson a line of appreciation of her interest and support for what you are trying to do, or whatever.... At such an age events of any sort are very scarce...."

I know Thygie shares my admiration for your incredibly sustained efforts to reconcile the bitterly opposing forces that continually threaten peace; and she would agree that what you do is done, in the end, for very ordinary people like us, all over the world,--- and for the young people we love and for their children. So I send my personal appreciation and thanks, from the hearts of Thygie too, that would want to do.

Shady, New York, 12479

Mrs. Thygeson's address: Mrs. Sophie Thygeson
Ms. Thygeson c/o Mrs. Phillips Thygeson
Los Altos, California

-- 2 --

P.S. A second remark both touching and funny was my way as I was writing the first page of this letter just now. My two house painters arrived, fine sturdy Carskill Mountain characters, father and son, who have worked together, squabbling the entire time affectionately for 30 years. The father really has no business being here but he so hates being idle that his son agreed to his doing just a little work around the porches. He is a feisty character who, I only now learn, has had 4 of what he calls coronaries, and he carries oxygen in his car. But Joe Junior and I have to watch him or we find him hallooing triumphantly from the peak of the roof. He can get up all right, but finds profanely he can't depend on his knees when it comes to climbing down and has to yell for help. If I have to leave the place and Joe Junior is not here, I chain down the ladders, to his infinite disgust. He is famous for having painted most of the church steeples in the county and we are not allowed to forget it.

The wall of my refrigerator is a kind of bulletin board and among other things it has the famous cartoon of that very familiar figure carrying a briefcase, who is explaining to St. Peter at the Pearly Gates: "Sorry, but I can only stay overnight." I went out to start Joe Senior's coffee just in time to hear him say: "It's just too bad a man like that ever has to die!"

This came of course from the preoccupations of his own 84 years, in part. You, and by extension himself, he is sure should live forever.

Alles bestes!

S.R.康ell