This letter from nine U.S. senators to President Carter expresses their “strong support” for his efforts in the Middle East peace process, with the stipulation that “…peace cannot be imposed from the outside and that the United States does not intend to present the nations involved with a plan or a timetable or a map.” The nine senators were Robert C. Byrd, Hubert H. Humphrey, Alan Cranston, Daniel K. Inouye, John Sparkman, Abraham Ribicoff, Edward M. Kennedy, Gaylord Nelson, and Edmund S. Muskie.
The senators pointed out that President Carter would need strong support in the Senate. According to Article II, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the president “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur.”
Despite putting forth a U.S. plan for peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors during the Camp David Summit, President Carter did retain the support of these senators and the Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel was ratified.
