Between Détente and Differentiation: Nixon’s visit to Bucharest in August 1969

Abstract

President Nixon’s decision to visit Romania in the summer of 1969 demarcated a symbolic turning point in the relations of Washington with Bucharest and the Eastern European communist states in general. This article examines the policies of both sides leading to this historical event and its respective outcomes. It places the opening of Romania to the United States and the latter’s embrace of such a prospect within the broader Cold War context of the time; the policy of differentiation and the imminent détente. Just a year after the invasion in Czechoslovakia, Nixon and Kissinger sought to explore the compatibility of their policy towards the rest of the socialist states with their grand design of the superpower détente with the USSR. Ceausescu’s independent profile within the Soviet bloc constituted Romania a textbook example for such an endeavour.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Federico Romero, Dennis Deletant, Mary Nolan, Ioannis Stefanidis, Eirini Karamouzi and Mircea Raceanu as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their support and valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

¹ The term ‘special relationship’ was used in a memorandum of the National Security Council in 1970. ‘Memorandum from Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger),’ 27 May 1970, Folder European Security Issues, U.S. and Soviet Diplomacy; Box 667; NSC Files, Country Files; Europe, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California (RNPLM).

² Nixon’s policy of differentiation towards the communist bloc was officially announced in February 1970. However, as argued here, its conception and formulation took place from the early days of the administration onwards. Richard M. Nixon, “First Annual Report to the Congress on United States Foreign Policy for the 1970s, 18 February 1970,” Public Papers of the Presidents: Richard Nixon (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1970), 116–90.

³ “Rumania Forms an Armed Militia,” The Times, 22 August 1968; Scanteia, 22 August 1968, 1.

⁴ “Rumania Warns Soviet; Ceausescu Adamant,” New York Times, 22 August 1968.

⁵ Vladimir Tismaneanu, Stalinism for All Seasons Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003); Dennis Deletant, “‘Taunting the Bear’: Romania and the Warsaw Pact, 1963–89,” Cold War History 7, no. 4 (November 2007): 495–507; Mary Ellen Fischer, Nicolae Ceausescu: A Study in Political Leadership (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Pub, 1989).

⁶ “Ceausescu Takes Steps to Protect Rumanian Independence From Soviet Attack; Seeks to obviate invasion pretext,” New York Times, 23 August 1968.

⁷ For the original text see CC al PMR, ‘Declaratie cu privire la pozitia Partidului Muncitoresc Roman in problemele miscarii comuniste si muncitoresti internationale adoptata de plenara largita a CC al PMR din Aprilie 1964,’ (Bucuresti: Editura Politica, 1964); Cezar Stanciu, ‘Autonomy and Ideology: Brezhnev, Ceauşescu and the World Communist Movement,’ Contemporary European History 23, no. 01 (February 2014): 115–34; Elena Dragomir, ‘The Perceived Threat of Hegemonism in Romania during the Second Détente’, Cold War History 12, no. 1 (February 2012): 111–34.

⁸ Yong Liu, Sino-Romanian Relations: 1950’s-1960’s,. (Bucuresti: Institutul Național Pentru Studiul Totalitarismului, 2006), 161–173.

⁹ Cezar Stanciu, “Nicolae Ceauşescu and the Origins of Eurocommunism,” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 48, no. 1 (March 2015): 83–95.

¹⁰ CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, Intelligence Memo, ‘Romania’s Nationalist Course’, 15 July 1969, 11. Folder ‘President Nixon’s Trip July- August Public Statements,’ Box 460, NSC File, President’s Trip Files, RNPLM.

¹¹ For a detailed discussion see, Dragomir, ‘Perceived Threat of Hegemonism,’, 111–115; Eliza Gheorghe, ‘Nicolae Ceauşescu’, in Mental Maps in the Era of Détente and the End of the Cold War 1968–91, ed. J. Wright, and S. Casey (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 67–72.

¹² See Liu, Sino-Romanian Relations.

¹³ Cezar Stanciu, “Autonomy and Ideology: Brezhnev, Ceauşescu and the World Communist Movement,” Contemporary European History 23, no. 01 (February 2014): 115–134.

¹⁴ Claudiu Mihail Florian, “Romania- RF Germania, 1949–1967: argumente pentru un nou inceput in relatiile Romano-Germane,” in Romania, supravietuire si afirmare prin diplomatie in anii razboiului rece,, vol. II (Bucuresti: Editura Fundatia Europeana Titulescu, 2013), 694–700; Robert R. King, A History of the Romanian Communist Party (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1980), 143.

¹⁵ Mioara Anton, “Un episod controversat: stabilirea relatiilor diplomatice Romano – Vest Germane, 31 Ianuarie 1967,” in Romania, supravietuire si afirmare prin diplomatie in anii razboiului rece,, vol. III (Bucuresti: Editura Fundatia Europeana Titulescu, 2013), 402–405; URSS Directia I, “Problema 20 E/1967. URSS Directia I. note de convorbiri ale diplomatilor ambasadei URSS din Bucuresti la MAE,” F. 18–24 Si F. 43–48, Arhiva Ministerul Afacerilor Externe, Bucharest, Romania (AMAE).

¹⁶ Cristina Nedelcu, “Conflictul Arabo-Israelian din Iunie 1967 si reactii diplomatice fata de modificarile teritoriale,” in Romania, supravietuire si afirmare prin diplomatie in anii razboiului rece, vol. II (Bucuresti: Editura Fundatia Europeana Titulescu, 2013), 358; King, History of the Romanian Communist Party,143.

¹⁷ Fond CC al PCR, sectia cancelarie, dosar nr. 90/1967, 5–12 Arhive Nationale Istorice Centrale, Bucharest, Romania (ANIC).

¹⁸ For a detailed account of the invasion’s background see, Laurien Crump, The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–69, (London: Routledge, 2015).

¹⁹ Ibid., 216.

²⁰ Tismaneanu, Stalinism for All Seasons, 200–203; Mircea Munteanu, “When the Levee Breaks: The Impact of the Sino-Soviet Split and the Invasion of Czechoslovakia on Romanian-Soviet Relations, 1967–1970,” Journal of Cold War Studies 12, no. 1 (2010), 43–61; “Ceausescu seeking Prague's support in Soviet Block,” The Times, 16 August 1968, 4.

²¹ Deletant, ‘Taunting the Bear,’ p. 499; Larry L. Watts and Camelia Diaconescu, Fereşte-mă, Doamne, de prieteni...: războiul clandestin al blocului Sovietic cu România (RAO, 2012), 363–383.

²² Cezar Stanciu, “Crisis Management in the Communist Bloc: Romania’s Policy towards the USSR in the Aftermath of the Prague Spring,” Cold War History 13, no. 3 (August 2013), 353–372; Lavinia Betea, “August 1968: apoteoza lui Ceauşescu,” Iaşi, Polirom, 2009, 167.

²³ Stanciu, “Crisis Management in the Communist Bloc”, 353–372; Watts and Diaconescu, Fereşte-mă, Doamne, de prieteni ... ; Mihai Retegan, In the Shadow of the Prague Spring: Romanian Foreign Policy and the Crisis in Czechoslovakia, 1968-9 (Iasi: Histria Books, 2000).

²⁴ James Hershberg, Marigold: The Lost Chance for Peace in Vietnam (Stanford University Press, 2012), 639.

²⁵ For a thorough treatment see Mircea Munteanu, “Over the Hills and Far Away: Romania’s Attempts to Mediate the Start of US-North Vietnamese Negotiations, 1967–1968,” Journal of Cold War Studies 14, no. 3 (2012): 64–96.

²⁶ Richard Milhous Nixon, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1969, vol. 229 (Department of State Publication: General Foreign Policy Series, 1969).

²⁷ For a thorough and up to date assessment of détente and its consequences see the special issue of Cold War History, November 2008; Jussi M. Hanhimäki, The Rise and Fall of Détente: American Foreign Policy and the Transformation of the Cold War (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, Inc., 2012).

²⁸ Robert D. Schulzinger, “Détente in the Nixon–Ford Years, 1969–1976,” in The Cambridge History of the Cold War, ed. Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 374.

²⁹ Fredrik Logevall and Andrew Preston, Nixon in the World : American Foreign Relations, 1969–1977 (Oxford University Press, USA, 2008); Jussi M. Hanhimaki, The Flawed Architect : Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2004).

³⁰ Campbell Craig and Fredrik Logevall, America’s Cold War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012), 254.

³¹ Bennett Kovrig, Of Walls and Bridges: The United States and Eastern Europe (New York: NYU Press, 1991), 116.

³² Douglas E. Selvage, “Transforming the Soviet Sphere of Influence? U.S.-Soviet Détente and Eastern Europe, 1969–1976,” Diplomatic History 33, no. 4 (1 September 2009): 671–87.

³³ Nixon, “First Annual Report to the Congress on United States Foreign Policy for the 1970s, February 18, 1970.”.

³⁴ Selvage, “Transforming the Soviet Sphere of Influence?,” p. 674.

³⁵ Memorandum of Conversation (USSR), February 21, 1969, in Soviet-American Relations: The Detente Years, 1969–1972, ed. Edward Coltrin Keefer et al. (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 2007), 21.

³⁶ Robert J. McMahon and Thomas W. Zeiler, Guide to U.S. Foreign Policy: A Diplomatic History (Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press, 2012), 413–414.

³⁷ Kovrig, Of Walls and Bridges, 118.

³⁸ Nixon, First Annual Report to the Congress on United States Foreign Policy for the 1970s, February 18, 1970, 180–181.

³⁹ Henry Kissinger, “Introduction,” in Soviet-American Relations: The Détente Years, ed. Edward Coltrin Keefer et al. (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007), xii.

⁴⁰ Selvage, Transforming the Soviet Sphere of Influence?, 676; See also Carole Fink and Bernd Schaefer, eds., Ostpolitik, 1969–1974 European and Global Responses (Washington, DC: German Historical Institute, 2011).

⁴¹ Nixon had visited Bucharest in 1967 as a private citizen during a world tour where he was received with special honors, and this left a great impression on him. During the same tour Poland refused to grant him the right to visit. Memorandum from Robert Ellsworth to the President, Folder Romania vol.1, Box 702, NSC Files; Country Files- Europe,” 6 July, 1969, RNPLM.

⁴² Letter, Kosygin’s Reply to President’s Nixon Message, 27 May 1969, Box 667, NSC Files, Country Files-Europe, p.2. RNPLM; Henry Kissinger, White House Years: The First Volume of His Classic Memoirs (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011), 144.

⁴³ Kissinger, White House Years, 55.

⁴⁴ Telegram 983 from Bucharest, 20 May 1969, NSC Files, Box 702, Country Files—Europe, Romania, Vol. I —8/69, pp.1–2. RNPLM.

⁴⁵ Ehrlichman Notes, Folder 4, p.2, Box 9, Ehrlichman, 1969 JDE Notes of Meetings, WHSF, RNPLM.

⁴⁶ Joseph F. Harrington and Bruce J. Courtney, Tweaking the Nose of the Russians: Fifty Years of American-Romanian Relations, 1940–1990 (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1991), 289.

⁴⁷ Kissinger, White House Years, 156.

⁴⁸ Memorandum From Helmut Sonnenfeldt of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), 27 January 1969, NSC Files, Box 702, Country Files—Europe, Romania, Vol. I —8/69, p.1, RNPLM.

⁴⁹ Memorandum, John Walsh to Henry Kissinger, 28 May 1969, Folder Rumania Vol. I, Box 702, NSC Files, Country Files- Europe, folder Rumania vol. I, box 702; NSC files, Country files- Europe, RNPL].

⁵⁰ Telegrama Nr. 80394, Washington, 21 June 1969, Problema 220/1969 SUA 9, vol. I referitor la vizita in Romania a presedentelui R. Nixon, pp. 57–59, AMAE.

⁵¹ Rumania postpones congress to Aug. 6,” New York Times, 30 July 1969.

⁵² Kissinger, White House Years, 156.

⁵³ James Reston, “President Nixon’s Avoidable Blunders,” New York Times, 29 June 1969; Telegram; US Mission NATO to Sec. of State; 30 June 1969, folder Rumania vol. I, box 702, NSC files, Country files- Europe, RNPLM.

⁵⁴ “Conferința de presă a lui Kissinger, Iunie 28, 1969,” problema 220/1969 SUA 9, vol. I referitor la vizita in Romania a presedentelui R. Nixon, 179–184., AMAE.

⁵⁵ C. L. Sulzberger, “Foreign Affairs: Unsentimental Journey,” The New York Times, 2 July 1969. The Economist, 5 July 1969” Folder Rumania vol. I, box 702, NSC files, Country files- Europe, RNPLM.

⁵⁶ Intelligence Information Cable, TDCS DB–315/02773–69, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX, Eastern Europe; Eastern Mediterranean, ed. James E. Miller et al. (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 2007) ,429.

⁵⁷ Ibid., 430.

⁵⁸ Paul Hofmann, “Soviet Visit to Bucharest Is Believed Canceled,” New York Times, 5 July 1969.

⁵⁹ CC al PCR, Sectie Cancelarie, 20 May 1970, dosar 59/1970, 7, ANIC.

⁶⁰ Harrington and Courtney, Tweaking the Nose of the Russians, 290; “Rumania Will Allow U.S. Envoy To Address Nation on TV Today,” New York Times, 4 July 1969.

⁶¹ ”In Rumania, News of the Visit Is ‘Fantastic’ to Man in Street,” New York Times, 1 July 1969.

⁶² Scanteia, 7 September, 1969, 10.

⁶³ Scanteia, 2 August, 1969, 2. ; Kissinger, White House Years, 156.

⁶⁴ Memorandum of Conversation, Bucharest, 2 August 1969, FRUS, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX, 438–448.

⁶⁵ Memorandum, H. Kissinger to the President, July 10, Folder President Nixon’s trip July August 69- Country briefing Romania; box 454; NSC files, President’s trips files, RNPLM.

⁶⁶ The US and Romanian advisers dealt with issues such as economic and trade relations, the upcoming cultural agreement, a civil aviation agreement, consular relations, the Middle East, and other international affairs. Memorandum, Th. Elliot, Jr. to Kissinger, 19 August 1969, Folder Rumania vol. I, box 702, NSC files, Country files- Europe, RNPLM.

⁶⁷ Memorandum of Conversation, Bucharest, 2 August 1969, FRUS, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX, 439; For an analysis of Ceausescu’s nuclear policy see Eliza Gheorghe, Atomic Maverick: Romania’s Negotiations for Nuclear Technology, 1964–1970, Cold War History 13, no. 3 (August 2013): 373–92.

⁶⁸ Nota, schita tematica a convorbirilor prilejuite de vizita in Romania a presedintelui Statelor Unite ale Americii, Richard Nixon, fond CC al PCR, sectia Relatii Externe, dosar no. 51/1969, 5–34, ANIC.

⁶⁹ Memorandum from the Chairman of the National Security Council under Secretaries Committee (Richardson) to President Nixon, 15 July 1969, FRUS, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX, 434.

⁷⁰ Memorandum of Conversation, Bucharest, 2 August 1969, FRUS, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX p. 440.

⁷¹ Ibid., 441.

⁷² Ibid., 442.

⁷³ Ibid., 443.

⁷⁴ Ibid., 443.

⁷⁵ Ibid., 444.

⁷⁶ Ibid., 447.

⁷⁷ Ibid.

⁷⁸ Memorandum of Conversation, Bucharest, 3 August 1969, FRUS, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX, 448–455.

⁷⁹ Ibid., 450.

⁸⁰ Ibid.

⁸¹ Ibid.

⁸² “Foreign Report: Rumania after the Visit, The Economist, 7 August 1969”. “Telegrama Nr. 80.516, Washington,” 4 August 1969, problema 220/1969 SUA 9, vol. I referitor la vizita in Romania a presedentelui R. Nixon, 41–44, AMAE

⁸³ “Nixon, Mobbed by Friendly Crowds, Tells Ceausescu Visit to Rumania Is His Most Memorable Trip; By Tad Szulc,” New York Times, 4 August 1969.

⁸⁴ H. R. Haldeman and Stephen E. Ambrose, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House, First edition (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994), 94–95.

⁸⁵ “Memorandum of Conversation, August 4, 1969”, NSC Files, Box 1023, Memoranda of Conversation - Dr. Kissinger, PM Chaban-Delmas, 1–4, RNPLM.

⁸⁶ Ibid., 1.

⁸⁷ ‘The second element was the emotional, joyful, human quality of the reception. the Romanian people welcomed in an emotional way this first chance to greet the President of a nation which for many of them still stands, as it did in the 19th century, as a symbol of democracy and freedom of the individual’. Ibid., 1.

⁸⁸ Ibid., 2.

⁸⁹ Ibid., 3.

⁹⁰ “Memorandum of Conversation,” 4 August 1969, NSC Files. Box 1023,Memorandum of Conversation - Dr. Kissinger/President Pompidou, 5, RNPLM.

⁹¹ Ibid., 6.

⁹² “Top Secret, Memorandum of Conversation, 7 August, 1969”, NSC Files, Box 1023, Memoranda of Conversation – The President, Chancellor Kiesinger, 1–16, RNPLM.

⁹³ “Stenograma sedintei Comitetului Executiv al CC al PCR din ziua de 4 August 1969,” fond CC al PCR, sectie Cancelarie, dosar No. 109/1969, ANIC.

⁹⁴ Ibid., 8.

⁹⁵ Ibid., 11.

⁹⁶ Mircea Raceanu, Istoria clauzei națiunii celei mai favorizate în relațiile româno-americane (Institutul Național pentru Memoria Exilului Românesc, 2009), 63.

⁹⁷ Ibid., 22104–22151.

⁹⁸ Ibid., 63.

⁹⁹ Memorandum, President Nixon to His Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), 7 August 1969, NSC Files, Box 1023, Presidential/HAK MemCons, p.1, The President and President Ceausescu, RNPLM.

¹⁰⁰ Memorandum of Conversation, NSC Files, Box 702, Country Files—Europe, Romania, Vol. I —8/69, RNPLM.

¹⁰¹ Harrington and Courtney, Tweaking the Nose of the Russians, 294.

¹⁰² stenograma convorbirilor tov. Ion Gh. Maurer si tov. Paul Niculescu- Mizil, la Pekin si Hanoi, cu prilejul participari la funerarile tov. Ho Si Min, 7–10 Septembrie 1969, fond CC al PCR, sectie Relatii Externe, dosar No. 72/1969, 1–69, ANIC.

¹⁰³ Ibid., 11.

¹⁰⁴ For a detailed account of Romania’s role as an intermediary between the US and PRC see, Mircea Munteanu, ‘Communication Breakdown? Romania and the Sino-American Rapprochement’, Diplomatic History 33, No. 4 (2009): 615–31.

¹⁰⁵ Memorandum of Conversation, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL ROM–US. Secret; Nodis, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (NARA).

¹⁰⁶ Memorandum for Mr. Kissinger; President’s Invitation to the Romanian Davis Cup Team, 29 August, 1969, NSC Files, Box 702, Country Files—Europe, Romania, Vol. I —8/69, RNPLM.

¹⁰⁷ Nixon Richard, U.S. Foreign Policy for the 1970s: A Strategy for Peace, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1970 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1970), 116–190.

¹⁰⁸ Haldeman and Ambrose, The Haldeman Diaries, 94–95.

¹⁰⁹ Stanciu, Autonomy and Ideology, 127–131.

¹¹⁰ Raceanu, Istoria clauzei națiunii celei mai favorizate în relațiile româno-americane, 61.

¹¹¹ Tismaneanu, Stalinism for All Seasons.

¹¹² Memorandum from H. Kissinger to the President, as well as the two anonymous reviewers, undated, Folder President Nixon's trip July August 69- Country briefing Romania; box 454; NSC files, President's trips files, RNPLM, 8.

¹¹³ For Maurer’s and Manescu’s take on the Romanian position see Lavinia Betea, Partea lor de adevar. Barladeanu, Manescu si Maurer (Bucuresti: Compania, 2008).

¹¹⁴ Kissinger, White House Years, 144–145.

¹¹⁵ Memorandum From President Nixon to His Assistant for National Security Affairs, Box 1023, NSC Files; Presidential/HAK MemCons, The President and President Ceausescu, 7 August 1969, RNPLM, 1.

¹¹⁶ Kovrig, Of Walls and Bridges, 118–119.