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March 19, 1975 - Ford, James M. Wilson, Northern Marianas Officials
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1552994
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document
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March 19, 1975 - Ford, James M. Wilson, Northern Marianas Officials
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Memoranda of Conversations (Nixon and Ford Administrations)
Ford Administration Memoranda of Conversations
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1975-03-19
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1975
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1975-03-19
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1975
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File scanned from the National Security Adviser's Memoranda of Conversation Collection at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
MEMORANDUM
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
CONFIDENTIAL/GDS
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
PARTICIPANTS:
President Ford
Edward Pangelinan, Chairman of Northern
Marianas Political Status Commission
Senator P. A. Tenorio, Northern Marianas
Senator
James M. Wilson, Jr., Deputy Representative
for Micronesian Status Negotiations
Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Assistant
to the President for National Security Affairs
DATE AND TIME:
Wednesday, March 19, 1975
4:15 p.m.
PLACE:
The Oval Office
Pangelinan: We are very pleased to have the opportunity to exercise our
rights under the UN Trusteeship Council and have a plebiscite.
President: We are pleased at this development and we trust that the
plebiscite will be favorable. Where are you two from?
Tenorio: We both are from Saipan.
President: What are the Islands in the Northern Marianas?
Tenorio: Saipan forms Tinian and Rota.
President: What is the population?
Tenorio: About 14, 000. Most of the people live on Saipan.
Wilson: They live in a very beautiful place. I was in Tinian and saw
the plaques during World War II.
DECLASSIFIED
E.O. 12958, Sec. 3.5
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
NSC Memo 11/24/98, State Dept. Guidelines
By HR , NARA, Date 10/7/99
CONFIDENTIAL/GDS
TOP SECRET XGDS (3)
CLASSIFIED BY: HENRY A. KISSINGER
CONFIDENTIAL/GDS
2.
Pangelinan: Those of us are very pleased you have given us your
attention, and of all the countries of the world we want to join with you.
We are very proud to be part of your political system.
President: We are very pleased. Do you expect any trouble with the
plebiscite?
Tenorio: There are some dissident groups but we think it will be okay.
Wilson: But you will have to work at it because the other Marianas will
oppose it as hurting them.
Tenorio: Yes. But we know what we want and we must make sure only
our plebiscite counts.
Pangelinan: You should know the Senator is from one party and I from
the other.
President: Have you been in the United States?
Pangelinan: I went to George Washington University.
CONFIDENTIAL/GDS
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
CONFIDENTIAL GDS
WASHINGTON
MEETING WITH TWO NORTHERN MARIANAS
POLITICAL LEADERS -- MR. EDWARD PANGELINAN,
CHAIRMAN OF THE NORTHERN MARIANAS
POLITICAL STATUS COMMISSION,
AND SENATOR P. A. TENORIO
Wednesday, March 19, 1975
4:15 p.m. (10 minutes)
The Oval Office
From: Henry A. Kissinger
B
I. PURPOSE
To demonstrate the importance we attach to the recently
concluded Commonwealth Covenant with the Northern Marianas,
and to Micronesia generally.
II.
BACKGROUND, PARTICIPANTS & PRESS ARRANGEMENTS:
A. Background: On February 15 we signed an agreement with
the Northern Marianas making them a commonwealth of the
U.S. This is the first U.S. territorial addition since 1917.
It is also the first time in history that a trusteeship territory
has asked to merge with the administering metropolitan state.
The Marianas broke away from the other five districts of
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) in early
1972, in order to negotiate a closer political union with
the U.S. than that desired by the other five districts. The
Northern Marianas over the past quarter century has
consistently pressed for such a closer relationship with us.
The Commonwealth Covenant must now be submitted to a
plebiscite, which we plan to hold before next July. The
agreement must also be submitted to our Congress, where
some opposition to the agreement has begun to develop. In
FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
a Senate vote March 17 on a budgetary authorization of
$1. 5 million for transition costs in the Northern Marianas,
Senator Gary Hart mobilized 39 votes against the authorization --
which nevertheless passed. Almost all of the 39 came from
HR 10/7/99
CONFIDENTIAL GDS
CONFIDENTIAL
2
liberal Democrats, who contended that the U.S. no longer
has strategic interests in Asia and the Western Pacific.
There is also some opposition in the Northern Marianas to
the Commonwealth Covenant, and leaders in the other five
districts have not yet given up their effort to bring the
Northern Marianas back into their fold.
Your meeting with Messrs. Pangelinan and Tenorio will
have a beneficial impact on preparations for the plebiscite.
Pangelinan has been one of the leading advocates of
commonwealth within the U.S. political union, and Mr. Tenorio
has just been elected as a senator to succeed Pangelinan in
the Congress of Micronesia. They are good friends of ours.
Both have been here to testify at the Jackson Committee
hearings on our administration of the TTPI.
B. Participants: Messrs. Pangelinan and Tenorio, General
Scowcroft, and Mr. James M. Wilson, Jr., Deputy
Representative for Micronesian Status Negotiations.
C. Press Arrangements: Photo opportunity. The call will be
announced routinely, and the press will be briefed following
the meeting.
III. TALKING POINTS
1.
I appreciate the long-standing desire on the part of the
people of the Northern Marianas to associate themselves
with the U.S. in a closer political relationship.
2. I am extremely pleased that we have successfully concluded
this Covenant of Political Union, which is the result of
serious but amicable negotiations between your Political
Status Commission and Ambassador Williams, my Personal
Representative for Micronesian Status Negotiations, and
Mr. Wilson, his deputy, on our side.
3. On behalf of the American people, I want to express our
conviction that the Covenant gives us the framework for
an enduring and mutually beneficial relationship.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
3
4. I want to assure you in the clearest terms possible that
the U.S., as a Pacific power, has vital interests in Asia
and the Pacific, and that it intends to continue to play an
essential role in helping preserve the peace and stability
of the region.
CONFIDENTIAL
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
P/Nothern Mariana Politicians
19 Man 75
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FORD & GERALD LIBRARY
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FORD & LIBRARY GERALD