377. Letter From the Director of Central Intelligence (Dulles) to the Secretary of State1
Dear Foster: You may be interested in the following paragraphs from a letter I received from Harry F. Kern2 under date of September 23, just before his departure for Japan.
“While I am writing, I might give you something to pass on to Foster. I had a talk last night with Prince Faisal. Azzam and a few others were present. They were puzzled by Foster’s talk at the U.N.3 and there was some mild criticism. Azzam thereupon said that while they had some complaints from time to time about Mr. Dulles, he, Azzam, wanted to say from personal experience, that no American ever had battled more courageously on the Israeli issue than had the Secretary and all Arabs should appreciate it. Prince Faisal warmly seconded this sentiment and said that Mr. Dulles was a great man and a friend of the Arabs. I remarked that I had seen at first hand some of the pressures generated in Washington, and particularly in Congress, and that it was remarkable Foster had managed to hold his ground as well as he had. Azzam said they all knew this when they thought about it.
“I found this tribute rather moving and I thought Foster might like to hear of it.”
Sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 684A.86/9–3057. A notation by Bernau on the source text reads: “Sec saw”.↩
- Senior editor for international affairs for Newsweek magazine.↩
- Reference is presumably to Dulles’ address before the U.N. General Assembly on September 19; see Department of State Bulletin, October 7, 1957, pp. 555–559.↩