LETTER TO EDWIN MEESE FROM JAMES THEBERGE RE GROWING CAMPAIGN IN U.S. TO ERODE SUPPORT FOR REAGAN S POLICY TOWARDS EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R001003880107-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 6, 2007
• Sequence Number: 107
• Publication Date: April 15, 1981
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2007/03/06: CIA-RDP88B00443R001003880107-7
JAMES D. THEBERGE
April 15, 1981
The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Counsellor:to the President
The White 'House -
Washington., D.C.
?
I wish t 4 .express my. deep concern over the growing campaign in this
country to erode public. and Congressional support for the Reagan Administrat-
ion's policy.towards EL:Salvador. Having served as American Ambassador to
Nicaragua: in the mid-1970's I am well aware of what is at stake.
You may remember that I. served on Governor Reagan's Foreign Policy Ad-
visory Council and campaigned actively for the Reagan-Bush ticket last Fall.
I am in complete agreement.-with our policy of providing both military and eco-
nomic assistance to the: present Government of El Salvador.
Our policy is widely perceived at home and abroad-as a test case of the
Administration_s. ability to halt-., the violent expansion of Soviet-Cuban supported
communism-in.-Central America, and by implication around the world. It is of
the utmost importance to- our national security that our policy succeed and that
a communist takeover is prevented in El Salvador.
The-.ins aL,m=entu= achieved by the Administration in late January and
February-with the-State^Department's issuance of the White Paper demonstrating
cothri tr st support or--the_Salvadoran insurgency and the dispatch of official.
envoys :ta==acncfr-`s in Western Europe and. Latin America--is now in
-danger-of -being_-lost The=initiative-appears to be passing to the opponents of
our policy -Various-domestic Church and other lobbying groups, liberal Congress-
men, andhuman rights-groups-have launched a campaign (which will include
demonstrations-in Washington this Spring) designed to influence public opinion
and pressure--Congress=to halt military aid to El Salvador.
We mgt regain the initiative and ensure that public opinion and the Congress
support -the Administration's policy towards El Salvador ( and our foreign policy
more generally) over the next several months as the new foreign assistance legis-
lation is--prepared-.for-voting upon this summer.
 Approved For Release 2007/03/06: CIA-RDP88B00443ROO1003880107-7
Only the President and the White House can provide the leadership re-
quired to regain lost momentum, reverse the declining public support for Ad-
ministration policy towards El Salvador, and secure Congressional support
for the policy--which are necessary conditions for the success of our Salvador-
an policy. That is why I have taken the liberty of writing to you about this
grave matter.
What must be done? L believe the first step must be to establish a special
task force-in the White House to mobilize public and Congressional support for
the President's policy. -It could be given such tasks as:
- guiding an intensified Congressional lobbying effort by the Administration.
- mobilizing friendly organizations and groups to lobby the Congress and
take the-Administration's message to the media and public fora.
inviting three- of the-five pro-government Bishops in El Salvador to visit -
the United States to meet with the Congress, the media and supportive
Leninist revolutionary left in El Salvador, their self-proclaimed political
.goals, and their links to the international terrorist network.
releasing a White Paper on the various factions that make up the Marxist-
Church groups.
Lion about the-=Salvadoran terrorist linkages, and the states training and
.financing--terrorlsts` tke Cuba and Libya.
- establishing a-ter_;-orist watch to collect and release to the public informs-
= relea-sing- a White-Paper on Cuban involvement in Latin American and
this.
- mobilizing our Latin American and Western European allies behind our policy.
-- inv t groups-of-editors to the White'House for special briefings.
Having--engaged American prestige and credibility in El Salvador--correctly
so, in my opinion--we must now be successful. The revolutionary left in El
Salvador and their allies in the United States see the chances for a military
success weakening as we provide political-military support to the Government.
The battle.-is.shifting, as it always does in such cases, to Washington and the
Congress. I trust that you a d your colleagues can and will do something about