As Henry Kissinger himself might have put it, the end of a diplomatic era was at hand. Barring some unforeseen emergency, Kissinger's trip to the NATO ministerial conference in Brussels last week was to be his last journey abroad as U.S. Secretary of State. TIME Diplomatic Editor Jerrold Schecter accompanied the most traveled Secretary of State in U.S. history on his farewell voyage and cabled this report:
At first it seemed like just another Kissinger journey—one of 40 covering more than 560,000 miles that have carried him to 57 countries since he became Secretary of State in September 1973. Aboard his blue-and-white Boeing 707, Kissinger and his wife Nancy chatted with correspondents about events of great and not-so-great moment. Nancy's yellow Labrador, Tyler, had been in his first dogfight but was recovering nicely, thank you. After Jan. 20, Henry Kissinger would spend a restful month at Banker David Rockefeller's home on St. Barthélemy Island in the Caribbean. There would be a fitting punishment for the diplomatic press once Cyrus Vance took office: "The only shuttle you guys will take from now on is between New York and Washington." Asked who would paint his official portrait, which will be displayed at the State Department, Kissinger replied with a grin: "I can pick the artist, but Vance can pick the corridor."
On landing in Brussels, Kissinger threw himself into a series of mini-shuttles and summits. He called on King Baudouin, met with Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan and conferred with the European Community Commissioner for External Affairs, Sir Christopher Soames. There were also sessions with seven Foreign Ministers, notably Turkey's Ihsan Caglayangil and Greece's Dimitri Bitsios, both engaged in critical negotiations on the future of Cyprus.
No Illusions. At the NATO Council meeting, Kissinger spoke for history. In a 45-minute closed session he reviewed the state of the world and cautioned that it would be unwise for NATO to indicate in detail in advance how it would respond to a Soviet attack. By maintaining a nuclear option, NATO retains the credibility of its deterrent strength. Thus Kissinger urged the council to reject the Warsaw Pact's proposal for a treaty banning the first use of nuclear weapons and limiting the size of NATO. While warning of growing Soviet military strength, Kissinger stressed that the West should not become paralyzed by it. The West must show unity, will and consistency, not "oscillation between excessive fears and illusions," he said.
Above all, Kissinger underscored the U.S. commitment to NATO. "No alliance," he declared, "is as important as the North Atlantic alliance, and nothing is of more importance to the unity of the West." Then he read a message from President-elect Jimmy Carter promising that "the American commitment to maintaining the NATO alliance shall be sustained and strengthened under my Administration." NATO, said Carter, "lies at the heart of the partnership between North America and Western Europe."