384. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, September 5, 1957, 1:14 p.m.1
The Secretary read to the President the proposed press release to be put out on Loy Henderson’s trip.2 The Secretary said he would discuss with Mr. Hagerty after he was through talking with the President.
It was decided that the President should come to Washington on Saturday since a large group was involved, including Twining. The Secretary recommended Twining’s inclusion in the meeting since he said T’s observations were extremely relevant. The President said he wanted to do it in a way that would cause the least panic. The Pres. said Hagerty would announce at five o’clock that because of work in Washington he would be coming down.
The Secretary said our “cousins” are very anxious to get a letter from him (the Sec.) in reply to the long one received. The Sec. said he had thought of sending them a sort of analysis of the situation without any commitments. The Sec. said he would like to show it to the Pres. first but mentioned that he would like to get it off tonight. The Pres. said we should caution against anything that isn’t sure. [Page 681] That would, he said, be the worst thing that could possibly happen. He said he did not think we should rush anybody until they felt perfectly confident we were fulfilling our commitments with respect to the strength of those people.
The Sec. said the problem would be to hold one of our friends back. One is already beginning to move. The Pres. said they wanted a firm statement out of us when a firm statement might hurt. Our hearts are in the right place. The best thing to do was to just saw wood. He mentioned helping our friends as far as we can, including the one that looks temperamental.
The Sec. mentioned there was a bare possibility that HM3 might be coming to Canada this week end and he mentioned going to Duck Island—more or less impromptu to see the Sec. Pres. said if that was the case HM could pay a call on him. Sec. said perhaps that wouldn’t be wise. Sec. was not sure if it was wise for him (the Secretary) to do it. He would like to appraise it. The Communist propaganda has been indicating we are getting ready to intervene in Syria. Pres. agreed this was bad….
[Here follows discussion of a forthcoming speech unrelated to the Middle East.]
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Asbjornson. The President was in Newport, Rhode Island.↩
- Not found. Presumably the same as the statement that White read to newsmen on September 5. See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1957, p. 1037.↩
- Harold Macmillan.↩