Diplomacy Begins at Home

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was off on a new round of shuttle diplomacy last week. The distances covered on this peacemaking mission were unusually short: the two miles between the State Department Building in Foggy Bottom and the Capitol across Washington, D.C. But the gap between the two institutions was enormous, and the task as delicate as on many of his overseas travels. Kissinger was determined to establish some kind of detente with the U.S. Congress and thus preserve his effectiveness as the architect of American foreign policy.

There was little time to lose. Rumors were floating round Washington that Kissinger was fed up with fighting Congress and thinking of quitting. Reports of Kissinger's imminent departure have become "an annual story," notes the subject, but last week a leading Democratic Senator who has generally backed the Secretary sadly predicted that Kissinger's days were numbered.

The rumors seemed to gain added substance last week when some English newsmen leaked a conversation they had had with Elliot Richardson just before his swearing in as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. Richardson said he thought that the odds were fifty-fifty that the Secretary would resign before the end of the year, depending upon the strain of the job and how much Kissinger felt he was being undercut by Congress. Richardson added that he thought he had a 2-to-l chance of becoming the next Secretary of State.

When Kissinger swore Richardson in as ambassador only a few days after the story was printed, the Secretary covered the awkwardness with some urbane jokes that were received with nervous laughter by the assembled group. Richardson says that Kissinger did indeed tell him that he would be his personal choice to become the next Secretary of State. But Kissinger also told a press conference last week that he had no intention of quitting. "That is a decision," he said, "that has to be made largely by the President."

Ford appears to have no intention of forcing out the Secretary. At a press conference last week, he said that he knew of "no plans of any kind whatsoever, on my part or his part, to change the very heavy and important responsibilities that he has."

Barely a year ago, Kissinger stood out as the one prominent survivor in an Administration dragged down by Watergate. His prestige may have been inflated, but he had laid the groundwork for detente with the Soviet Union and relations with China, worked out the details to end U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam War and acted as the professorial peace keeper in the Middle East. Since then he has suffered a spate of setbacks:

1) Congress passed the so-called Jackson Amendment making a new trade agreement with the Soviet Union contingent upon the Kremlin's easing of its emigration rules. In addition, Congress infuriated and humiliated the Kremlin by putting a low ceiling of $300 million on credits that could be automatically advanced to the Soviets. As a result, Russia called off the trade deal with the U.S.

2) Congress barred Venezuela and Ecuador from receiving preferential tariffs because of their membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. By so doing, Kissinger feels, Congress hindered his attempt to shore up U.S. relations with Latin America.

3) Congress cut off military aid to Turkey after that country had invaded and occupied Cyprus.

Some legislators have been making Kissinger their favorite whipping boy. Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen raps Kissinger for trying to conduct foreign policy "from a jet plane circling over a Middle East airport." New York Senator Jacob Javits objects to "the theory that the department is omniscient and we are the defectives." Says Democratic Congressman Benjamin Rosenthal of New York: "Kissinger prefers to deal with great men and world leaders, partly because it makes for better history writing. But he must deal with Congress because we reflect the will of the American people." Worries that he might be leaning too hard on Israel to make concessions in negotiations with the Arabs have contributed to the atmosphere (see cover story page 14).

In recent months, Kissinger has also come under sharp attack from foreign policy experts, some of whom would no doubt relish the opportunity to exchange places with him. Kissinger's style of personal diplomacy is much more vulnerable to attack than his policies, which are much harder to fault. But the Secretary is open to criticism for the way he handled the Cyprus issue. When the Greek junta deposed Archbishop Makarios, the Cypriot leader, and replaced him with Nikos Sampson, Kissinger seemed to acquiesce by his silence, though he later called Sampson "a thug." When the Turks then invaded to protect the Turkish minority on Cyprus, Kissinger again failed to protest. Finally, Kissinger was caught off guard by Congress's cutting off arms shipments to Turkey. Turkey has since threatened to pull out of NATO. Kissinger bitterly fought the arms embargo, arguing that it would not only harm Turkish-American relations but make the Turks less likely to negotiate about the future of Cyprus.

Visibly Shaken. Kissinger has recently been making a sincere effort to win back his support on Capitol Hill. To show the importance he now attaches to State-congressional relations, Kissinger made Ambassador-at-Large Robert McCloskey, one of his most respected deputies, Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations (see box).

While trying to build up good will, Kissinger has not given up the effort to sell his policies. Fighting hard for the resumption of arms aid to Turkey, Kissinger and Ford briefed Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott on the chaos that would result for the U.S. and NATO if Congress did not rescind the cutoff. Mansfield, who was said by one congressional staffer to be "visibly shaken," quickly joined Scott in working out strong bipartisan support in the Senate for the resumption of arms shipments. But the House still remained opposed.

On Cambodia, Kissinger warned that if $222 million is not voted within the next few weeks, a Communist takeover is virtually certain (see THE WORLD). But leaders on the Hill passed the word to the Secretary that the request would not be met. Kissinger has another and even more important battle with Congress coming up: the Administration's request for an extra $300 million to buy arms for South Viet Nam.

Understandably, Kissinger was looking forward to his return this week to the Middle East and one possibly final try at working out a lasting settlement between the Israelis and the Arabs. The Secretary nowadays is much more confident on the road than in Washington. Crowds gather in hotel lobbies to applaud his entrance. Heads of state trust him and welcome the very personal, secretive brand of diplomacy that is under attack at home.

However his Middle Eastern diplomacy turns out, there are plenty of other challenges lying ahead to make Kissinger want to stay on as Secretary of State. The SALT talks are now taking place in Geneva, and the Soviet Union's Leonid Brezhnev is still scheduled to visit the U.S. this summer for a summit meeting with President Ford. In the meantime, with an unfriendly Congress to woo, the Secretary of State realizes that his most delicate diplomacy may have to be performed right in his own backyard.

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