235. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, Washington February 13, 1957, 9:30 p.m.1
The President called me at my home at 9:30 p.m., saying that he had been having a talk with some of his associates there, including Mr. Robinson,2 about the Chinese Communists and our attitude toward Americans going to Communist China. He said he had narrated to the group the various evil deeds of the Chinese Communists, culminating in their attempting to use 10 Americans as hostages to gain political ends. He said the group felt that the full story had never been adequately told to the American people, and that if it were, they would understand better why we did not issue passports for China and discouraged travel to Communist China. I recalled to [Page 479] the President that we were planning a meeting with some of the newspaper heads on Monday to discuss this matter fully.3 The President suggested that I could discuss it again at my next press conference and he would do the same. The President said he felt that if we could get the full story across, public reaction would support our position. The President said that under present conditions he would never see the issue of passports valid for China. The President said he recognized that we might have to tolerate a certain amount of “bootleg” travel there.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations. Drafted by Dulles on February 14.↩
- An apparent reference to William Robinson, a close friend of President Eisenhower.↩
- See Document 237.↩