Engineer Memoirs
Q ..
What were the circumstances just prior to your retirement?
A ..
In the closing days of the SALT II negotiations, the Soviets continued to play their
eleventh-hour tactics. Up to the very end they tried to wring additional
final deal had been struck. However, at 8 p.m. the Soviets reopened the
negotiations and continued to argue until midnight.
To assure that there would be a deal, we gave in some more. The treaty was
finally initialed by Ambassadors Earle and Karpov a few minutes after midnight.
They then broke out the champagne to celebrate. I didn't join them but went back
to my office and sent a cable to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I said that I could not, in good conscience, support the agreement just initialed.
I had two requests: first, that I be authorized not to go to Vienna with the group
to witness the signing of the treaty; and second, that I be put on the Army retired
list, effective 1 August, some six weeks hence.
Within hours, early the next morning, I received a reply. It said that both of my
requests were approved. I was authorized not to go to Vienna but to report back
to Washington. I was also told that I would be placed on the retired list, effective
1 July 1979. This was only two weeks away. It usually takes about six weeks to
retire. This was the minimum amount of time it took to wind up one's affairs, take
the necessary physical exams, get debriefed, give up one's security clearances and
the like. I had to compress six weeks of work into two.
Up until the end, the chiefs had supported me. But they came under great pressure
from the White House to go along with the agreement. The chiefs, in the end,
concluded that it was a useful but modest step. There was one exception, the chief
of the Marine Corps, who said that it was not a useful step. He was the only chief
who backed me all the way. T h e other chiefs, while not entirely happy with the
SALT II agreement, said they would support it.
Q ..
Didn't President Carter later say that he discovered, all of a sudden, that the
Soviets weren't as honorable as he thought they were?
A ..
Yes, but this wasn't until six months after the treaty had been initialed., As soon
as the August congressional recess was over, the Senate confirmation hearings
began.
Because I had been one of the negotiators and because I now opposed the treaty,
I was one of their star witnesses. By late fall, it was clear that the Senate could
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