Office of the Historian

711.90J/3–446

President Truman to the King of Yemen (the Imam Yehya bin Mohamed Hamid-ud-din)

Great and Good Friend: Mindful of the many centuries during which Your Majesty’s ancestors have been Imams of the Yemen, and of the independence which Your Kingdom has enjoyed under Your Majesty’s rule, I take pleasure in informing Your Majesty that the Government of the United States recognizes the absolute and complete independence of the Yemen and by this letter makes known its intent to accord you and Your Majesty’s Government the privileges of such recognition and to endeavor to promote friendly relations between our two countries.2

I was happy to receive Your Majesty’s esteemed telegram of December 2, 1945,3 expressing approval of the suggestions contained in my telegram of November 19, 1945,4 in regard to a Special Diplomatic Mission of the United States5 to engage in conversations with Your Majesty concerning an agreement of commerce and friendship and other matters of mutual interest. As reported in my telegram of November 2, 1945,6 I have selected the Honorable William A. Eddy,7 in whom I repose special trust and confidence, to be my representative with the personal rank of Minister for conducting these conversations with Your Majesty and such duly authorized representatives as you may appoint.

I hereby make known to Your Majesty that I have empowered Mr. William A. Eddy to conclude such an agreement on my behalf with [Page 925] Your Majesty’s Government, and that the agreement will be considered in force on the date Mr. Eddy and Your Majesty’s duly authorized representative effect an exchange of acceptances of the agreement.8

I avail myself of this opportunity to convey my sincere respects and my wishes for the continued good health of Your Majesty and their Royal Highnesses, Your Majesty’s sons.

May God have Your Majesty in His safe and holy keeping.

Your Good Friend,

Harry S. Truman
Washington, [March 4, 1946.]
  1. The Department of State had announced on February 12, 1946, that the United States Government was planning to enter into relations with the Government of Yemen; see Department of State Bulletin, February 24, 1946, p. 297.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. viii, p. 1318.↩
  3. Ibid., p. 1317.↩
  4. For the membership of the Special Diplomatic Mission of the United States to the Kingdom of Yemen, see Department of State Bulletin, March 17, 1946, p. 446.↩
  5. Not found in Department files; internal evidence suggests that the reference should be to President Truman’s telegram of November 19, 1945.↩
  6. Mr. Eddy was United States Minister to Saudi Arabia.↩
  7. Minister Eddy concluded a provisional agreement with the Government of Yemen on May 4, 1946, covering diplomatic and consular representation, juridical protection, and commerce and navigation. The agreement was effected at Sana’a by an exchange of notes with Abdul Karim Mutahhar, Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister; for text, see Department of State Treaties and Other International Acts Series No. 1535, or Department of State Bulletin, July 21, 1946, p. 94. Documentation on the negotiations of the agreement is found in the files of the Department of State under file No. 711.90J.↩