Office of the Historian

430. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom1

Washington, March 6, 1956—2:52 p.m.

5037. For Ambassador only. Deliver following message to Prime Minister from President. Copy of Eden’s February 18 message sent following telegram2 for your information.

“Dear Anthony:

“In your letter of February 18 you requested my assistance in settling some questions relating to the supply of tanks to Iraq, the Netherlands, and Germany.

“In line with our previous discussions, I propose to request of Congress, in connection with the Mutual Security Program for the Fiscal Year 1957, funds to supply Iraq with forty additional Centurion tanks. This is being done only because there are firm understandings that these tanks will not be used for any purpose except defense of the area in connection with the Baghdad Pact. I would not want this information to become known until the program has been presented to the Congress, and then it should be handled in such a manner as not to increase tensions in relation to the Arab-Israeli dispute. It is extremely [Page 993] important that this matter be considered as secret pending further discussions between us.3

[Here follows the part of the reply to Eden concerning the question of supplying tanks to the Netherlands and Germany.]

“Sincerely, D.E.”

Hoover
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 787.5–MSP/–656. Secret. Drafted by Hoover, cleared by Goodpaster, and approved by Robert G. Barnes.↩
  2. Telegram 5038 to London, March 6, contained the text of Eden’s February 18 message to Eisenhower. In this message, Eden stated that the United Kingdom was faced with an urgent problem in deciding its future tank production program, and had to decide how much capacity to retain. As part of his request for Eisenhower’s assistance in settling this matter, Eden noted that much of the answer depended on U.S. views about the supply of further tanks to Iraq, the Netherlands, and Germany. (Ibid.)↩
  3. The text of the President’s message to this point was transmitted to Baghdad in telegram 668, March 7. In this telegram, the Department also stated that it agreed that British Foreign Minister Lloyd could inform the Iraqis on the matter of additional tanks on a confidential basis, and without mentioning the total number of tanks involved. (Ibid., 396.1–KA/3–756)↩