Preface

The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity of the United States Government, including the facts that contributed to the formulation of policies and the documentation of supporting and alternative views to the policy positions ultimately adopted.

The Historian of the Department of State is responsible for the preparation of the Foreign Relations series. The editing of the series in the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, is guided by principles of historical objectivity and accuracy. Documents are not altered or deletions made without indicating where changes have been made. Every effort is made to identify lacunae in the record and to explain why they have occurred. Certain omissions may be necessary to protect national security or to condense the record and avoid needless repetition. The published record, however, omits no facts that were of major importance in reaching a decision, and nothing has been excluded for the purpose of concealing or glossing over a defect in policy.

At the time of the compilation of this volume in 1986, the Department was guided in the preparation of the Foreign Relations series by official regulations first promulgated by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg on March 26, 1925. A new statutory charter for the preparation of the Foreign Relations series was established by Title IV of Public Law 102–138, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993, which was signed by the President on October 28, 1991. That new charter requires that the Foreign Relations series “shall be a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant United States diplomatic activity.”

Structure and Scope of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series

This volume is part of a comprehensive subseries of volumes that will document the most important issues in the foreign policy of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration. The subseries covers the years 1958 through 1960.

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Continuing the longstanding tradition of the Foreign Relations series and in compliance with the legislation of October 28, 1991, the editors have planned a comprehensive subseries of volumes to record the most important issues of the foreign affairs of the United States during the Eisenhower administration. This volume presents documentation recording important U.S. Government policies toward the Arab-Israeli dispute, the United Arab Republic (which came into being in February 1958 with the merger of Egypt and Syria), and North Africa during the 1958–1960 period. Additional documentation concerning U.S. relations with Israel and the United Arab Republic during the Lebanon crisis is scheduled for publication in Volume XI, Lebanon and Jordan. Documentation on U.S. regional policies is scheduled for publication in Volume XII, Near and Middle East; Iran; Iraq; Gulf States.

In preparing this volume of Foreign Relations regarding U.S. policy in the Middle East, the editors have given the highest priority to the inclusion of documents on:

1.

U.S. interest in the full range of Arab-Israeli issues, including the quest for peace, the military balance, the Palestinian refugee question, the Arab boycott against Israel, the Jerusalem question, Israeli transit of the Gulf of Aqaba, incidents of violence along Arab-Israeli borders, the Jordan waters question, and the treatment of Jews in Arab countries.

2.

Bilateral U.S. relations with Israel, primarily relating to economic and military assistance, which frequently were affected by the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

3.

U.S. relations with the United Arab Republic and particularly with President Abdul Gamal Nasser, and with the issue of economic assistance.

4.

U.S. attitudes toward the Algerian insurrection against French colonial rule.

5.

Problems arising from Tunisia’s relationship with its former colonial ruler, France, and on Tunisia’s need for U.S. economic and military assistance.

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The longstanding 1925 charter of the Foreign Relations series and the law of October 28, 1991, on the series require that the published record reflect all major foreign policy decisions and activities and include necessary documentation from all government agencies and entities involved in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support. The historical records of the Presidents and their national security advisers together with the still larger body of documentation in the Department of State are the principal sources of the Foreign Relations series. The National Archives and Records Administration, including the Presidential libraries which it administers, is the main repository and coordinating authority for historical government documentation.

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The official documentary record on U.S. foreign affairs available for preparing the published Foreign Relations volumes must on occasion be supplemented by information from private collections of papers of historical signficance and from interviews with U.S. officials who were involved in the events documented. Interviews by Department historians are conducted in accordance with professional scholarly practices and existing government procedures regarding their preparation and preservation. Oral histories, where already available, are also reviewed and used. Particular sources used in preparing this volume are described in detail in the List of Sources, pages XI–XVII.

Principles of Selection for Foreign Relations, 1958–1960, Volume XIII

The selection of documents in this volume is based on extensive research in the files of the Department of State and the records of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas. A team of historians conducted the initial search of Department of State files in 1981 and 1982.

Documentation from the Eisenhower Library was obtained in the late 1970s. Compilation of the material took place in 1986. In selecting the contents of this volume, the editors sought to include documents that present the major decisions of U.S. foreign policy regarding these countries and issues and major incidents affecting the relationships. Emphasis was given, when available, to the views and positions expressed by President Eisenhower and Secretaries of State John Foster Dulles and Christian A. Herter. Important memoranda prepared by the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs and by the Bureau of African Affairs after its creation on August 20, 1958, that describe explanations of policy options, are also included. Most of the documentation contained in this volume, however, focuses on high-level interchanges between U.S. officials and foreign leaders and their representatives in Washington and on reports and analyses by U.S. officials. The story presented here is basically one of diplomacy and U.S. economic and military assistance, and no effort has been made to examine in depth intelligence questions. The records of the U.S. Department of Defense and of the Central Intelligence Agency were not examined for this volume. Other intelligence records, including documents originated by the Central Intelligence Agency that are to be found among the collections of the Eisenhower Library, were consulted. That research was accomplished with the full cooperation and assistance of the CIA. It did not, however, result in the inclusion in this volume of any key intelligence analyses that contributed to the major political and diplomatic actions.

Completion of the declassification of this volume and the final steps of its preparation for publication coincided with the development of procedures since early 1991 by the Central Intelligence Agency in [Page VI] cooperation with the Department of State that have expanded access by Department historians to high-level intelligence documents from among those records still in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Department of State chose not to postpone the publication of this volume to ascertain how such access might affect the scope of available documentation and the changes that might be made in the contents of this particular volume. The Department of State, however, is making good use of these new procedures, which have been arranged by the CIA’s History Staff, for the compilation of future volumes in the Foreign Relations series.

The declassification review process for the documents originally selected for this volume, outlined in more detail below, resulted in withholding from publication approximately 2.5 percent of the original manuscript. Deletions included materials on such subjects as nuclear issues, intelligence matters, and military base rights. The most frequent form of deletion was to protect the confidentiality of foreign diplomatic sources and the information they provided in confidence to U.S. officials. The remaining documents printed here provide a full account of most of the major foreign policy issues confronting the United States in the region, but do not cover all the significant details relating to these policies or all significant issues originally compiled by the editors.

The editors wish to acknowledge the assistance of officials at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, in particular David Haight.

Editorial Methodology

The documents are presented chronologically according to Washington time. Incoming telegrams from U.S. missions are placed according to time of receipt in the Department of State, and memoranda of conversations are placed according to the time and date of the conversation.

Editorial treatment of documents published in the Foreign Relations series follows Office style guidelines, supplemented by guidance from the Editor in Chief and the chief technical editor. The source text is reproduced as exactly as possible, including marginalia or other notations, which are described in the footnotes. Obvious typographical errors are corrected, but other mistakes and omissions in the source text are corrected by bracketed insertions: a correction is set in italic type; an omission in roman type. Bracketed insertions are also used to indicate text that has been omitted because it deals with an unrelated subject (in roman type) or because it remained classified after the declassification review process (in italic type). The amount of material not declassified has been noted by indicating the number of lines or pages of source text that were omitted. The amount of material omitted [Page VII] because it was unrelated to the subject, however, is not accounted for. All ellipses and brackets that appear in the source text are so identified by footnotes.

The first footnote to each document indicates the document’s source, original classification, distribution, and drafting information. The source footnote also provides the background of important documents and policies and indicates whether the President and/or his major policy advisers read it. Every effort has been made to determine if a document has been previously published, and this information has been included in the source footnote.

Editorial notes and additional annotation summarize pertinent material not printed in this volume, indicate the location of additional documentary sources, provide references to important related documents printed in other volumes, describe key events, and summarize and provide citations to public statements that supplement and elucidate the printed documents. Information derived from memoirs and other first-hand accounts have been used when applicable to supplement or explicate the official record.

Declassification Review Procedures

Declassification review of the documents selected for publication was conducted by the Division of Historical Documents Review, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Department of State. The review was made in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, the criteria established in Executive Order 12356, and the act of October 28, 1991, regarding:

1)

military plans, weapons, or operations;

2)

the vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations, projects, or plans relating to the national security;

3)

foreign government information;

4)

intelligence activities (including special activities), or intelligence sources or methods;

5)

foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States;

6)

scientific, technological, or economic matters relating to national security;

7)

U.S. Government programs for safeguarding nuclear materials or facilities;

8)

cryptology; and

9)

a confidential source.

Declassification decisions entailed concurrence of the appropriate geographic and functional bureaus in the Department of State, other concerned agencies of the U.S. Government, and appropriate foreign governments regarding documents of those governments. The principle guiding declassification review is to release all information, subject only to the current requirements of national security and law.

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Charles S. Sampson compiled and edited the chapters on the Arab-Israeli dispute and the United Arab Republic and Suzanne E. Coffman those on North Africa, under the supervision of former Editor in Chief John P. Glennon. General Editor Glenn W. LaFantasie supervised the final steps in the editorial and publication process. Ms. Coffman and Gabrielle Mallon prepared the lists of sources, abbreviations, and persons. Rita M. Baker and Althea W. Robinson performed the technical editing. Barbara A. Bacon of the Publishing Services Division (Natalie H. Lee, Chief) oversaw production of the volume. Do Mi Stauber prepared the index.