On to the Summit in Vienna

A historic treaty and a first meeting between rivals

After seven years of negotiations that ended in the announcement of agreement on a SALT II treaty on May 9, U.S. and Soviet diplomats in Geneva still had to work late every night last week on that very same treaty. Their task: to get the final Russian and English terms of the 76-page document into shape for Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev to sign next Monday in Vienna. Alternating between the drab Soviet mission near the U.N.'s Palais des Nations and the more spacious U.S. quarters overlooking the botanical garden and Lake Geneva, U.S. Envoy Ralph Earle and the Soviets' Victor Karpov found that the final dotting of z's and crossing of fs was unexpectedly difficult. Lamented one U.S. official: "We still don't know when the work will be finished."

Would it be done in time for the enounter that the whole world will be watching?

Said the American: "It better be."

The delay caused SALT critics in Washington to fear that the Soviets might be trying to shade some nuances in their favor. Senate G.O.P. Leader Howard Baker Jr. warned darkly about the pressures of "deadline diplomacy." But an Administration official insisted that there was no cause for concern. Even so, the two leaders may yet have to settle some of the fine print during their face-to-face sessions this weekend.

In contrast to the feverish activity in Geneva, summit preparations went on almost serenely in Vienna, where the treaty is to be signed at 1 p.m. in the Redoutensaal, a gold-and-white ballroom in the sprawling Hofburg, the Habsburg dynasty's Imperial Palace. Vienna officials were taking the summit preparations very much in stride. The Redoutensaal was occupied last week by negotiators at the interminable M.B.F.R. talks on troop reductions in Central Europe. Not until this week could workmen begin erecting bleacher seats for the 1,200 journalists expected to witness the SALT II signing. That the agreement on nuclear weapons will be signed in the Hofburg seemed fitting: the palace was a headquarters of the 1814-15 Congress of Vienna, which achieved a balance of power in Europe that lasted for nearly a century. SALT II will expire in 1985, but by then U.S. and Soviet leaders hope a more lasting agreement will have been negotiated.

In Moscow and Washington, where Brezhnev and Carter were being prepped by their staffs for the summit, the biggest uncertainty was the health of the ailing Soviet party chief (see ESSAY). Brezhnev seemed in good shape two weeks ago during his visit to Budapest, where he declared: "We shall go to Vienna fully prepared for an active and constructive dialogue." In Moscow, Andrei Kirilenko, who as the party's Central Committee Secretary-General is No. 2 to Brezhnev, told U.S. Ambassador Malcolm Toon that both countries expected "a great deal" of the summit and expressed the hope that both would make "great efforts." A Soviet official told TIME: "While we can hope for frequent summits, we don't really know when the next one might be. So the American Government should at least try."

In Washington, Carter met on Monday and Tuesday with the National Security Council to review U.S. and Sovi et military strength. At lunch with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt on Wednesday, the President got some pri vate advice on deal ing with Brezhnev. Schmidt also lobbied in Washington for ratification of the SALT treaty. At a private dinner with six Senators and four Congressmen who are undecided about SALT, he warned that rejection of the treaty would seriously set back detente, which he called "vital for a rational world." Schmidt also spoke strongly in favor of the treaty at two public appearances in the U.S., including one at Harvard, where he received an honorary degree.

Carter planned to fly with Rosalynn and Amy to Vienna on Thursday. He will relax at U.S. Ambassador Milton Wolfs elegant white villa during much of the following day, then pay a courtesy call with Brezhnev on Austrian President Rudolf Kirchschlaeger.

Carter and Brezhnev will have their first business session on Saturday morning at the baroque U.S. embassy. For two hours they will make a survey of world problems. After lunch-- and a nap for Brezhnev-- they will talk together for 1 1/2 hrs. more. At this meeting they expect to settle any language disputes on SALT II and officially open discussion on SALT III, the next round of negotiations.

Sunday morning Carter will rejoin Brezhnev at the somber 19th century Soviet embassy for 31/2 hrs. more of talks. Carter intends to ask for Soviet cooperation in the Middle East and southern Africa, but he harbors no illusions that Brezhnev will go along with U.S. strategy in those troubled areas. The President also plans to raise some arms-related issues, including a freeze on anti-satellite weapons, restraints on conventional arms sales, a ban on chemical warfare and a new effort to invigorate the stalled M.B.F.R. talks.

On Monday morning the two leaders will discuss bilateral matters. Carter will push Brezhnev for firm assurances that the Kremlin will continue its more liberal policy on emigration, particularly for Jews--the price the U.S. Congress has set for lifting restrictions on Soviet trade. The President will also urge Brezhnev to free Dissident Leader Anatoli Shcharansky from prison.

No surprises are expected at Vienna. Said a U.S. official: "The Soviets certainly don't want any." The summit's chief value will be that Carter and Brezhnev have finally got together and demonstrated that they consider detente to be very much alive. "We will urge greater cooperation between us and emphasize that detente is a two-way street, as we always have," said a senior Administration official, "but realistically, we cannot expect much more to be accomplished." -

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