Gerald Ford, Henry Alfred Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft

“ We talk softer than our actions. The Left is strong in Europe; we paralyze them by talking soft. That is what you are up against with McClellan.
The President: If I were the Soviets, I would use the Congress.
Kissinger: These numbers games on SALT miss the point. The firm approach means we must sustain a 10 to 15 percent budget increase, be prepared for crises like Berlin, and so forth.
I wanted to use this peculiar year -- with liberals going conservative -- to get a ceiling on strategic forces beyond which we wouldn't go anyway. ”

“ The Soviet Union wants it as a substitute for a peace treaty. They more or less have that. The big hang-up is on freedom of movement. It is meaningless -- it is just a grandstand play to the left. We are going along with it.
What you will face is whether to conclude it at the summit level or foreign minister level. My guess is the Europeans will decide on a summit. We have positioned with the Soviet Union, so we look like we are ahead of the Europeans. ”

“ The Soviets should cut more than us, but not so much. Then we should add the nuclear package -- 32 Pershings, 54 F-4, 1,000 nuclear warheads. It is strategically insignificant, but it does have the consequence of establishing some ceiling on our nuclear forces.
But we don't have targets for the nucs anyway.
Also we have to take care of FBS. To do it in SALT causes alliance problems. If we could get the Soviets to do it in MBFR, it would satisfy our allies and give the Soviet Union a face saving way out. ”