MCGOVERN'S ZIG-ZAG ON BRIEFINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00499R000100080002-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2006
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 22, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/07/19: CIA-RDP84-00499R000100080002-6
THE WASHINGTON POST Tuesday, Aug. 22,197Z
Tout Braden
McGovern's Zig-Zag on Briefings
SEN. GEORGE Me-
GOVERN is a little bit.wor-
ried about the effect of his
refusal to accept a briefing
from Henry Kissinger.
McGovern's staff is wor-
ried, too. They do not want
it to appear that McGovern
is unwilling to listen to the
facts. But neither do they
want Kissinger or President
Nixon to be able to criticize
McGovern for campaign
statements which they
might allege are based on
secret briefings.
It was this last reason
which caused McGovern to
turn down the presidential
offer. If his refusal seems to
evoke a negative public re-
action, McGovern can still
accept the Kissinger brief-
ing. Meanwhile, he has des-
ignated Paul Warnke, for-
lnerly deputy to Clark M.
Clifford, President Lyndon
P. Johnson's last secretary
of defense, to accept the
briefing on his 'behalf.
Circumstances indicate,
however, that McGovern un-
derwent several changes of
heart about the Kissinger
briefing. Originally, Mc-
Govern accepted the invita-
tion and a date was set in
his Senate office. That had
to be canceled because it
was scheduled during the
week when the nominee was
occupied with the Eagleton
affair and with choosing a
new running mate. Kissin-
ger then suggested another
date and got the Warnkc
nomination in reply.
IT WAS President Nixon's
idea that Kissinger should
brief McGovern at the be-
ginning of the campaign and
that thereafter the job
should be taken over by the
Central Intelligence Agency
director, Richard Helms.
Briefings by the CIA have
been given to presidential
candidates not in - office
since 1952. In that year,
CIA's Office of Cur? cnt in-
telligence briefed candidates
Dwight Eisenhower and
Adlai Stevenson. In 1956,
the. same office briefed Ste-
venson. In 1960, CIA Direc.
tor Allen W. Dulles person-
ally briefed candidates Rich-
ard Nixon and John Ken-
nedy. In 1964, Republican
candidate Barry Goldwater
declined to be briefed. But
the pattern was restored in
1968 for both Hubert Hum-
phrey and George Wallace
though Director Helms did
not carry on the Dulles
precedent of doing the job
himself.
McGovern's change of
mind about the Kissinger
briefing avoided what might
have "been an embarrassing
confrontation. It is difficult
to imagine Kissinger telling
McGovern about. the quan-
tity of bombs dropped on
Vietnam during a given
week without provoking
McGovern's sense of out-
rage.
The senator from South
Dakota believes that the
Nixon-Kissinger policy of
trying to hammer North
Veetnam into accepting their
terms by turning the coun-
try Into a bomb pit Is im-
moral. Moreover, he thinks
it will not work.
IN ADDITION, he is sus-
picious or Kissinger's fre-
quent trips to Paris. -He sees
them as a sign of despera-
tion. If North Vietnam has
not accepted President Nix-
gn's terms by October, Mc-
Govern thinks it possible
that the President and Kis-
singer will soften their
terms, perhaps to the point
of tossing South Vietnam's
President Thieu overboard.
Thus the President could go
before the electorate having
fulfilled his promise to end
the war. His terms would be
McGovern's terms, camou-
flaged no doubt by lan-
guage. In any event, such a
move would destroy one of
McGovern's principal cani-
paign issues and might de-
stroy his chance of getting
elected.
So much for the way Mc-
Govern sees Kissinger. Kis-
singer, on the other hand,
views McGovern as the man
who stands beween himself
and a negotiated settlement.
The President's latest terms
are the best that have ever
been offered. Kissinger ex-
pecte d North Vietnam to ac-
cept them. Kissinger be-
lieves that the only reason
the enemy continues to re-
fuse them is the possibility
that George McGovern will
be elected and 9ffer better
terms.
McGovern and: Kissinger
are acquaintances who see
each other occasionally in
Washington. But events
have made them natural en-
emies. Each believes that
the other is dead wrong.
Each believes that the other
is secretly plotting his down-
fall. Under the circum-
stances, perhaps it is just as
well that a formal confron-
tation will not take place.
,,c, 1972, Los Angeles Time.,
MORI/CDF Pages _1 and
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 Approved For Release 2006/07/19: CIA-RDP84-00499R00j}30 &R-61972
w
INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
Candidate
Date
Briefer
Eisenhower
between
30 Aug
25 Sept
9-12 Oct
OCI
OCI
OCI
1956
Eisenhower
25 Oct
30 Aug
15 Sept
1 Oct
20 Oct
OCI
OCI
OCI
OCI
OCI
Stevenson
Kefauver
Kennedy
10 Sept
17 Sept
1 Oct
29 Oct
130 Sept
7 Oct
28 Oct
23 July
19 Sept
2 Nov
OCI
OCI
OCI
OCI
OCI
OCI
OCI
DCI
DCI
DDCI
Johnson
Nixon
Johnson
Goldwater
Nixon and Agnew
Humphrey
Wallace
Maddox
28 July
Incumbent V.P.
Incumbent
Declined
12 Aug
Incumbent V.P.
26 July
21 Aug
Pres.,Rusk,
Vance, DCI
Rusk, Nitze,
McConnell,
DCI
Rusk, Clif-
ford
DCI
,
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13 AUG?1972 i"o
r
M%.Uove-rn to Get
By SAUL, KOHLER
roefin~ on War
Newhouse News Service to turn over the code ke j"s for
Sen. George McGovern will the nuclear devices," he com-
accept a White House briefing mented.
on foreign policy and the Viet-
nam war, despite warnings
from his staff that President.
Nixon "is not the Wizard of
Oz" and the intelligence com-
munity is far from infallible.
The briefings were offered
to McGovern immediately aft-
er last month's Democratic
convention. The date was set
for the candidate to meet with
Dr Henry Kissinger, White
House foreign policy adviser.
But that turned out to be the
day on which McGovern held
his historic meeting with Sen.
Thomas F. Eagleton, his for-
mer vice presidential running
anate, and the Democratic
standard bearer asked for a
postponement.
McGovern adviser, Fred .
Dutton, said: "The whole
myth that the President has
much more information is
bunkum. The press is on top of
it as. much as the intelligence
community.
"So long as the candidate
knows this and keeps in mind
that as a. United States senator
he knows a good bit himself,
he'll not fall into any traps."
Dutton said that because of
his own political activity in the
McGovern campaign, he
would not attend the briefings,
and that the senator probably
would be accompained to the
White house by retired Gen.
James Gavin and former As-
sistant Secretary of Defense
Paul Warnke.
Dutton said he doesn't be-
lieve that a briefing by Kissin-
ger, no matter how intense,
would inhibit McGovern from:
commenting on the adminis-
aoa policy in Southeast
Asia ast
Aand elsewhere.
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 -ppF AREA OR COUNTRY(S) ORGANIZA I
White HE~~Ieb
SECRET (When Filled In)
Briefing
Presidential Briefing
ISENHOWER,D.
STEVENSON,A.
JOI-IN SON , L . B.
PATE 1
13 Aug 72
IDENTIFICATION OF DOCUMENT (author, form, addresses, title & length)
File of press clippings concerning Intelligence
Briefings of Presidential and Vice Presidential
Candidates. Also a summary of past briefings.
ABSTRACT
clippings in this file pertain to the 1972
campaign. The list is a resume of candidates
briefed in previous years with dates and briefers
listed.
FORM
?-!Y 2523 [oirlon[ r[[rtou[ .
'
GOLDWATER, B.
HUMPHREY,H.H.
WALLACE,G. LOCATION:
AGNEW,S. HS/HC,,
MADDOX L.
MCGOVERN.G.
KISSINGER,H.
HISTORICAL STAFF SOURCE INDEX
SECRET
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