~ . Enclosure #1 to Bucharest A-292 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE American Embassy Bucharest, Romania Memorandum of Conversation March 28, 1967 . SUBJECT: Izvestia Buchare:t Correspondent's Interest in Nixon Visit PARTICIPANTS: Nikolai Pakliri, Izvestia Correspondent in Bucharest William K. Braun, Cultural Attache Nikolai PAKLIN, Izvestia correspo:'.1dent in Bucharest, telephoned Embassy Political Officer, John J. de Martino, and informed him that he would like to talk to the Press and Cultural Attache at the American Embassy. I returned the call and arranged for Mr. Paklin to .come to my office at 2:30 p.m. on March 28 where we· spent about an hour chatting about a number of subjects. I got the impression that the main reason for the visit of Paklin to my office was to discuss the visit of Mr. Nixon, although he did not immediately bring up the subject. Instead he began by asking questions about the Cultural and Educational Exchange program between the United States and Romania. I could tell he couldn1 t have cared less about my answers because he wasn 2 t exactly hanging on my words but his attitude changed somewhat • when he mentioned Mr. Nixon. He didn 1 t care about what Mr. Nixon did here but he was most curious about why Mr. Nixon was "so well received" by the Homanians. "After all, Nixon is just a private American citizen." I said that that is technically correct but that Mr. Nixon is not only still an influential man in one of the two major parties in the United States but that no one knows what the future will bring. Paklin said that in 1960 Mr. Nixor: had everything going for him, he was well known and had a go9d party organization, and yet was beaten by a relatively little known (at that time) Senator Kennedy. Anyway, he thought the Soviet attitude that Nixon is purely and simply a private citizen was the correct one regardless of the future and particularly because Mr. Nixon is so "anti-socialist." There wasn't much point in continuing a discussion of the nomination and electio11 of the presidential candidates in either LIMITED OFFICIAL USE Enclosure #1 to Bucharest A-292 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 2 1960 or 1968 so we went on to other matters. It turns out that Paklin shares my enthusiasm for the theater and we dis­cussed a Soviet play which I had seen in London recently. This led him to a description of the new theater in Moscow where these days is S"een so much in the way of "experimenta­tion." (His word.) He said that there are many conservatives who resist change in the theater in the Soviet Union but the days ~f Stalinistic repression are now over and this has benefited the theater a great deal. Paklin paid at the end that he had enjoyed our conversation and would like for my wife and me to visit the Soviet Embassy villa (or did he say one of the Embassys villas?) at Lake Snagov. I thanked hiTna:'nd said that I would look forward to having him and his wife for dinner and a film at our home soon. Paklin is a very pleasant, serious maru\ered and talkative fellow and we had no trouble at all talking in a rather curious combination of Romanian and English. He speaks some English in a somewhat labored fashion but he usually knows the word for everything by combining the two languages in a single sentence. He also speaks German. He says his wife speaks J!:nglish quite well. He learned his Romania~ seven years ago at some "diplomatic school" (he used to be in the Soviet Foreign Service, I think), but has not had a chance to use it until he came here. He has been here four months. He lives at No. 7 Bul. Maghe1·u, Apartment 19 and his telephone number is 11~ -77-54. H said his apartment is in the same building with the O.N.T. Carpati ~ffice. Drafted by: . WKBraun/sgh ~ LIMITED OFFICIAL USE •