Memorandum From the President on the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Memorandum for the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Energy, the Director, International Communication Agency, the Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, the Chairman, Board for International Broadcasting, the Chairman, Commission on Civil Rights, the Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Chairman, International Trade Commission, the President, National Academy of Sciences, the Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts, the Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Chairman, National Science Foundation

This Administration attaches the greatest significance to achieving full implementation of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). This document contains solemn political pledges by the leaders of the 35 States of Europe and North America which participated in the 1975 Helsinki Summit—pledges to work toward lowering the barriers between East and West and improving the everyday lives of their people.

I believe that our own record of implementation has been second to none among the 35 participating States, but our work is not complete. The Final Act pledges us to strive constantly for improvement both domestically, in the area of civil and economic rights, and internationally, in the expansion of our cooperation with the other participating States. Other governments, including the Soviet Union, will better understand the depth of our concern for the full implementation of the Helsinki pledges if we demonstrate that we are working hard at home to fulfill even more effectively our side of the Helsinki bargain.

The work of each of your departments and agencies touches upon important aspects of our Final Act commitments, and I ask you to keep these commitments in mind as you develop your programs. You should work with the Department of State, and cooperate with the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, as they carry out their respective responsibilities to assess implementation and identify areas where American performance can be improved. To facilitate this task, I request that you designate an official at the Assistant Secretary or the Deputy Assistant Secretary level to serve as CSCE contact. I will appreciate your full cooperation with the Department of State as it prepares the Administration's semi-annual reports on CSCE implementation as well as offering your full cooperation to the Commission, which is preparing its own special report on United States implementation of the Helsinki Final Act.

JIMMY CARTER