Max Kampelman's Diary
June 10–15, 1985
On the evening of Monday, June 10, I had dinner with Spencer Oliver and Marty Sletzinger of the Congress. Both are now with Dante Fascell's House Foreign Affairs Committee. It was pleasant. We hadn't spent much time with each other since the end of Madrid. Warren and Teeny joined us.
On Tuesday, June 11, we had a normal plenary day with the Soviets on the Defense & Space Group. I have been able to regularize the change of the time of our meetings from 11:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m.
I don't like the idea of having to go through until 3:00 p.m. on an empty stomach and I have explained to the Soviets that this is not good for proper discussion. We, therefore, begin an hour earlier at 10:00 a.m. and are able to continue speaking as long as we wish in our informal conversations. Kvitsinskiy saw no problem with that.
On Tuesday evening, June 11, I spent some time with Robert Trent Jones. We had a very pleasant evening of looking at his new golf club and then having dinner with him on top of a mountain in France. He is extremely cooperative.
On Thursday, June 13, Chris Yangu of Cypress, who had been with me in Madrid, came by and we had lunch together. That evening, I had dinner with the Zimmermanns. Jeff left for Florence on his own a day earlier. We met in Florence on Friday, June 14, during the evening.
During the day on Friday, we had a meeting of the eight leaders of our delegation in order to take inventory as to where things were. I also met with General Ellis later in the afternoon in order to be briefed by him on how things were moving in his negotiation. He and I have a good relationship.
I should mention that on Thursday, Juen 13, I received a message from Rome to the effect that they had received a report of a possible terrorist Shiite attack against me when I reached Florence and spoke to the group there. This caused some consternation here. Sharon proceeded to get in touch with the mission security people who sent over a vest for me to wear in Florence. They also alerted the Swiss police who followed me around on Thursday evening. There was increased security at the Florence airport when I arrived there. I decided not to wear the vest until I spoke on Saturday afternoon, June 15. The Florence police followed us quite carefully in the hotel and at the restaurant where Jeff and I ate. In reviewing this, I don't believe I experienced any anxiety at all. I didn't take the report seriously and I suppose even if I had taken it seriously I didn't think of it as applying to me personally. I was, however, pleased with the interest taken by the police, with the surveillance, and with the increased sensitivity.
On Saturday morning, June 15, Jeff and I toured the city of Florence with the help of our Counsel there. It was an extremely interesting tour which I enjoyed. We then had lunch together. Following lunch, I met with the top legislators of the Christian Democratic Party in Italy for a brief exchange. I then gave a talk to their convention which went over quite well and which was prepared by me, Warren and Greg Suchan. Greg did a very fine job. Max Raab, our Ambassador to Italy, came to hear me. We then all drove back to his home on Saturday evening where we had a pleasant dinner together and where his daughter and her friend were also waiting for him. They invited Jeffrey to spend a few more days with them and since he was going to be in Rome, he cancelled his hotel reservation. They were most hospitable. Indeed, Max and I got along very well and I found Ruth to be most gracious and helpful. On Sunday night, I returned to Geneva by Air Force plane.