890F.51/23: Telegram
The Minister in Egypt (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 1—3:32 a.m.]
826. My 825, June 26, 4 p.m.23a I hope the Department will see its way clear to exploring exhaustively the possibility of extending financial [Page 639] aid to Saudi Arabia and to giving its encouragement and support to any feasible project to that end. The importance of insuring the sympathy of the Arab world at this time cannot be too strongly emphasized and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the logical field for American endeavor in that regard. I am convinced that immediate financial assistance to that Government should be regarded as a profitable investment over and above all actual business considerations.
I have noted from the Department’s confidential instructions Nos. 13 and 14 of May 9,24 that the question of the extension of economic assistance to Saudi Arabia by the United States has been brought to the Department’s attention and that proposals have been made envisaging both increased oil purchases as well as financial advances through the Export and Import Bank. I made no mention of these possibilities to the Secretary of the Legation of Saudi Arabia when he handed me the note transmitted in my telegram under reference but merely asked him to inform his Minister for Foreign Affairs that I would communicate at once with my Government and that I would be glad to be notified for my personal information if any representative of Saudi Arabian financial interests was now in the United States who might be qualified to facilitate any preliminary investigations that might be found possible to initiate. He replied that he knew of no such individual but would make inquiries of his Government.
As the matter of extending financial aid to Saudi Arabia is regarded as one of urgency I shall appreciate telegraphic advice at the earliest possible moment as to the nature of the preliminary reply I may make to the Saudi Arabian Government in the premises.