---------- THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON February 21 1977 The attached is forwarded to you for your information The Vice President Stu Eizenstat H L-ni1 ton Jordan _job I·i pshutz Frank Moore Jack Watson · · ·4 ·· -· i J VI aM t 'f ' -z rt1 1 1_ • MI MORANDUM o THE VHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON February 21 1977 TO •• FROM RE •• The President Jody Powell Soviet Dissidents • It seems to me that the Soviets should understand your feeling that it is necessary to build domestic political support for initiatives in arms control and for detente in general r One of the reasons Ford-Kissinger failed in this effort and had to back away from detente was because the American people would not support a policy which seemed to abandon our position in support of basic human rights y Surely the Soviets are sophisticated enough to understand that the domestic political flexibility we need to make progress in other areas is enhanced by your position on human rights Perhaps·this could be conveyed to Dobrynin by you on an informal basis -- by phone for example formal way would be through Brzezinski through their Embassy Press Counselor An even less I could even do it K enev whom I know -2- This probably should be done before you see Bukovsky on Tuesday to try to prevent another public reaction on their part which will only put us in a position of having to avoid the appearance of backing down JLP cs