Richard Nixon

While national security concerns were cited as the grounds for rejection, reportedly high-level politics played an important role as well. The project, and the export issue associated with it, was considered so important that French President Georges Pompidou appealed directly to U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1971 to approve the deal, and that Henry Kissinger brought the issue up with President Pompidou in a 1972 meeting. GE reportedly argued at the highest levels that having half of the market was better than having none of it, which they believed would happen if SNECMA pursued the engine on their own without GE's contribution. However, Nixon administration officials feared that this project could be the beginning of the end of American aerospace leadership.[8]
There was also speculation that the rejection may have been, in part, retaliation for French involvement in convincing the Swiss not to purchase American-made A-7 Corsair II aircraft that had been competing against a French design,[8] the Dassault Milan. In the end, the Swiss did not purchase either aircraft, opting for the Northrop F-5E Tiger II instead.[9]





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