684A.86/5–554
No. 816
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of
State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs (Byroade) to the Secretary of State
Knowing your schedule is so crowded with other things, I still recommend you read the attached speech of mine (Tab A),1 delivered on May 1st, at your earliest convenience.
Needless to say, it was a cause of concern to me that it was not possible for me to go over the text with you personally. The Israeli press had so greatly distorted my Dayton speech2 that I felt impelled to set the records straight even though I knew an attempt to do that would, itself, be criticized. I also felt that this situation is becoming so serious that the American people have a right to know some of the things that are behind the daily headlines of raids and border frictions.
The Israeli press has ignored everything constructive in the speech and concentrated in a bitter attack on what I said about immigration into Israel. Not a single paper there has quoted me correctly on this subject. They have officially protested to our Government amid considerable publicity. The attached article (Tab B)3 in the New York Times is one example. I discussed with Murphy the fact that some response was necessary and the attached (Tab C)4 was handed out today. This format was used as I saw no reason to attempt involving you in this matter on your first day back from Geneva.
I feel the points in the attached speech needed to be said but do not believe we can evaluate the results for perhaps a month or two. In this period of aroused comment, I think you should weigh carefully whether another speech on this subject should be made by you as suggested by the President. Such a speech could be highly beneficial here at home. My own speeches have caused, however, a minor sensation in the Middle East out of all proportion to my rank or significance. These speeches have been debated by Parliaments and Cabinets of almost every country amid great publicity. I should like to think about it some more but it may be that the traffic [Page 1547] would not bear another speech in the immediate future regardless of its contents.
I am going to furnish you a brief synopsis of the reactions in the area to my two speeches. If you do decide to speak this will allow you to chart with precision the effects of what you will say. It is impossible to make a speech on this subject without severe criticism regardless of the care used in wording because of the delicate innuendos surrounding each aspect of the problem. It is partly for this reason that I felt it well to have someone of lesser rank than yourself talk first about some of the fundamentals of the Arab-Israeli problem.5
- Not printed, but see footnote 1, supra.↩
- Regarding Byroade’s speech of Apr. 9 at Dayton, see footnote 3, supra.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Tab C was Department of State Press Release 231, May 5, not printed, describing Eban’s call on Byroade that day.↩
- Marginal notation by Byroade: “PS. The Vice President told me last nite at the airport he thought my speech was all right. B.”↩