Editorial Note
Telegram 59, January 8, from Rabat to Paris, repeated to the Department of State as 76, reported that an emissary from Sultan Sidi Mohammed of Morocco had requested Consul Robert H. McBride to ask the American Embassy in Paris to arrange with the French Foreign Ministry a call on the Sultan by General Eisenhower, in the event that the General visited Morocco as reported in the local press (740.5/1–851). Telegram 36, January 9, from Paris to Rabat, repeated to the [Page 408] Department of State as 3904, stated that plans for General Eisenhower’s trip to Europe were still fluid and no definite answer on a visit to Morocco was possible. Any decision on such a visit to Morocco would probably only be made within 48 hours of the visit, and the General would most likely communicate directly with General Juin who had extended an invitation (740.5/1–951). Telegram 3640, January 10, to Paris, repeated to Rabat as 44 (drafted by Earle J. Richey of the Office of African Affairs and cleared in WE and RA) observed that the Department of State believed it important that General Eisenhower call upon the Sultan should the General decide to visit Morocco (740.5/1–951). However, telegram 371, January 10, to Copenhagen (where General Eisenhower and his party arrived the following day), from Assistant Secretary of State Perkins to MacArthur, commented as follows on Eisenhower’s possible acceptance of Juin’s invitation to visit Rabat: “While I hesitate make any comment possible changes General’s itinerary I question advisability his visiting any non-NATO countries” (740.5/1–1051). General Eisenhower and his party did not in fact visit Morocco.