Canberra, 24 August 1971
Confidential Personal
I am rather worried about the attached telegram from Visbord1 and its strongly anti–American tone. It has had a reasonably wide distribution here and this is important because recent American actions—the Kissinger visit, civil aviation2 and the financial crisis3—have created a strong reaction among Australian officials. Emotionally, I share some of the feeling that the Nixon administration is adopting a bullying attitude. They have deeply dismayed the Japanese who are talking to us about re–thinking their position, greater self–reliance etc. Sato’s political career seems headed for a premature end. All these things are being fed to us in a steady stream. However, we do not want to be guided by emotion.
It is quite clear from your long memorandum on the PPG paper4 (which I am studying carefully) that you take a much more balanced view of American actions: I do not personally go all the way with your arguments but I am anxious to avoid the growth of anti–American sentiment and wondered whether, in telegrams containing comment such as this one you would see merit in instituting some form of consultative process for clearing drafts. This would avoid loaded phrases like ‘the provocative nature of Mr Connally’s statements’.
[DFAT: WALLER PAPERS]
1 E.M.W. Yisbord, Minister (Financial), Australian Embassy, Washington. The cablegram has not been published.
2 Australia and the United States had been engaged in air services negotiations aimed at framing measures to minimise the possibility of future capacity disputes between the two countries and to settle short term international airline frequency issues.
3 On 15 August, Nixon announced a range of measures to combat domestic economic difficulties—specifically, those of inflation, unemployment, and the protection of the US dollar on international currency markets. With regard to the latter, Nixon declared the levying of a temporary surcharge on dutiable imports not already subject to quantitative limitations, and announced the suspension of the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets.
4 Document 240.