Inquiries about official gifts

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33706, 2 December 1974, Page 17

Inquiries about official gifts

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) WASHINGTON, December 1.

The American State Department has decided to return to New York jewellers about SUSSOOO worth of jewellery obtained for official giftgiving by the wife of the Secretary of State (Dr Henry Kissinger), according to Senator William Proxmire.

An aide to the senator, a Wisconsin Democrat, said that the department had informed Senator Proxmire that the jewellery obtained on consignment, without being paid for by the Government, had not been given to foreign dignitaries during recent travels by Mrs Nancy Kissinger, and was being returned. Senator Proxmire has repeatedly criticised official gift, giving as wasteful of taxpayer dollars. He has sponsored an amendment intended to bring it under strict limits and congressional scrutiny. Word about Mrs Kissinger’s jewellery came in a November 12 letter to the senator from Mr Stuart Rockwell, acting chief of protocol for the State Department. Senator Proxmire had asked the department to account for certain hand-crafted jewellery, by Celia Sebiri of New York, and hand-crafted reproductions of early American silver by Old Newbury Crafters, of Massachusetts. In response, Mr Rockwell told Senator Proxmire that the pieces had been taken on consignment, had not been used, and would be returned. The State Department!

official also wrote that a small silver pitcher from Old Newbury Crafters, which cost SUSII7 wholesale, had been given to the Empress of Iran.

Mr Rockwell’s letter said that money to cover the items was included in an appropriation for emergencies in the diplomatic and consular services.

Criticism over exchanging gifts with foreign dignitaries mounted when it was disclosed last spring that the wife and daughters of the former President, Mr Richard Nixon, had accepted valuable jewellery without registering the gifts promptly with a White House office.

By law, United States officials are barred from keeping gifts from foreign governments valued at more than SUSSO.