Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, The Near and Middle East, Volume IX, Part 1

684A.85/5–2454: Telegram

No. 827
The Ambassador in Jordan (Mallory) to the Department of State¹

secret

Amman, May 24, 1954—2 p.m.

480. Re Deptel 443.² British Ambassador Duke made démarche to Foreign Minister Saturday, May 22 and subsequently to Prime Minister. I informed Foreign Minister we fully associated ourselves with British démarche and deeply felt necessity of achieving relaxations of tensions on border. Foreign Minister surprisingly informed me he submitting question to Jordan Cabinet today. Minister from standpoint of national policy stated his desire for quiet on the border and necessity of breathing space for new government which inherited difficult public opinion (see also Embtel 463).³ Seeing Foreign Minister again Wednesday.⁴

Mallory

1. Repeated to Tel Aviv and London.
2. Not printed, but see footnote 3, supra.
3. Not printed.
4. Ambassador Mallory forwarded, under cover of despatch 408 from Amman, May 27, a memorandum of his conversation with Ambassador Duke concerning the letter’s approach to the Jordanian Government. Mallory also forwarded memoranda of his own conversations with the Jordanian Foreign Minister and Prime Minister (on May 24 and 27 respectively) in which he formally stated that the United States associated itself with the British démarche. (684A.85/5–2654) The 11 points of the British démarche to Jordan were not specifically described in these memoranda of conversation or in other telegrams or despatches to or from Amman, but were similar to points 2 and 4–13 in part III B of the Department’s CA–6175, Document 811. With respect to the subsequent transmittal to the Israeli Government of the same 11 suggested measures, see the aide-mémoire of June 19, Document 836.