209. Memorandum for the Record by the Secretary of State’s Special Assistant (Macomber)1
April 3, 1957
At 5:45 p.m. this afternoon I received a call from Mr. Henry Holland, formerly Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, who reported the following:
He had been approached by a group of Texans headed by Mr. Clint Murchison who in turn had been approached by the Israeli Government to participate in a pipeline construction running from the Gulf of Aqaba through Israel to the Mediterranean. Mr. Holland’s impression was that this pipeline would parallel the proposed eight inch pipeline now under construction. Mr. Holland said that he had not talked with Mr. Murchison directly, but had been called by a Mr. Gerald Mann who represents Mr. Murchison. Mann on behalf of the Murchison group asked Holland to act as their legal counsel in this matter.
Mr. Holland reported that he had told Mann that he was not qualified to be of any real assistance to the Murchison group, and therefore declined the offer.
Mr. Holland suggested that Governor Dewey’s firm would be in a better position to be of assistance to the Murchison group. Mann then suggested that Holland call Dewey to see if the latter would be interested in taking on the assignment.
Holland called Dewey who said that he would be willing to work for the Murchison group, but only if the Department of State had no objection. Holland had replied that there was one simple way to find out about that: “to ask the Department of State”. Dewey had replied: “all right you ask them”. Holland said he was, therefore, now calling on behalf of Dewey to see if there would be any State Department objection to Dewey’s firm acting as counsel to the Murchison group in this matter.
In conclusion Holland stressed two points. First that the Murchison group was not interested in spending one dollar or taking one step in connection with this project unless it was consistent with the policy of the United States. Second, Governor Dewey was not willing to serve as counsel unless the Department of State had no objection to his doing so.
[Page 480]Mr. Holland suggested that the Department’s reaction to this matter could be communicated to Governor Dewey through Mr. Holland’s secretary, Barbara Massay. Mr. Holland informed me that he would be out of the country for the next ten days.
I reported the above to the Secretary. His reaction was that it should be made perfectly clear to the American businessmen involved that this Government would not use its good offices or in any other way seek to assure that the oil producing countries in the Middle East would use this pipeline to transport their oil. The Secretary also made the point that it was essential that the Israelis not be in a position to state to others that the participation of this group in the pipeline undertaking carried with it the implication that the United States was prepared to bring pressure on the oil producing areas in the Middle East to use this facility. The Secretary said that I should report this to Bill Rountree to ascertain if he agreed with this reaction, and if he did I was to pass it along to Mr. Holland.
April 4, 1957
I reported the above to Mr. Rountree. Mr. Rountree agreed with the Secretary’s reaction. He said that he thought the United States position as outlined by the Secretary should be made clear to the Murchison group, and that this group should then make its own decision based completely on the commercial considerations involved. In this connection he thought it was important that the Murchison group make inquiries through commercial channels to ascertain whether, in fact, any of the present oil producing companies or countries in the Middle East would be prepared to take advantage of this facility, and make their decision on the basis of their findings.
Mr. Rountree also said that he thought that the Department’s reaction should be given directly to Mr. Holland and not through Mr. Holland’s secretary. He felt that to do otherwise would run the risk of our reaction becoming garbled.
4:30 p.m.
I called Barbara Massay and said that I had ascertained the Departmental reaction to the matter which Mr. Holland had raised with me last evening. I said that because of the complexity of the problem involved, I was under instruction to report directly to Mr. Holland. Miss Massay said that she would send a cable to Mr. Holland giving him that information. She said she imagined that Mr. Holland would ask her to telephone the parties involved and indicate that he would not have an answer for them until after he returned to this country.
[Page 481]April 8, 1957
Miss Massay telephoned me today to say that she had talked with Mr. Holland in Mexico City. Mr. Holland had said he would be glad to wait until he returned to the country to have the State Department answer his query. He also said, however, that it would be perfectly all right with him if I passed it directly to Governor Dewey. I told Miss Massay that I was under instructions to report to Mr. Holland personally and, although I was sure the Secretary, if he were here, would authorize me to talk to Governor Dewey, in the Secretary’s absence I thought I had better stick to my instructions and wait and report to Mr. Holland.
William B. Macomber, Jr.2
April 19, 1957
Mr. Holland telephoned me from New York today. I gave him the Department’s position in regard to the above matter, using the language underlined on page 2.3 I read this underlined language to him word for word. Mr. Holland said he understood our position; he thought it was a reasonable one, and he would convey it to Governor Dewey.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers. Confidential; Personal and Private.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩
- Reference is to the portions of the last paragraph in the April 3 entry beginning with “it should be made perfectly clear to the American businessmen involved” and ending with “would use this pipeline to transport their oil”; and beginning with “essential that the Israelis not be in a position” and ending with “to use this facility”; and to the portion in the first paragraph of the April 4 entry beginning with “this group should then” and ending with “on the basis of their findings”.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears these typed initials.↩