Office of the Historian

49. Memorandum of a Conversation, Ambassador’s Residence, Paris, December 10, 1956, 9:45 a.m.1

Paris, December 10, 1956, 9:45 a.m.

USDel/MC/1/2

PARTICIPANTS

  • United States
    • The Secretary
    • Mr. Macomber
  • United Kingdom
    • Mr. Selwyn Lloyd
    • Mr. Dennis Lackey

SUBJECT

  • Jordan

During his conversation with the Secretary on other subjects, Mr. Lloyd turned to the subject of Jordan. He said that the UK felt that the Jordan treaty was of no further use and that “our money spent there is wasted, except that it may keep out worse money”. He said that Jordan had asked the UK to negotiate the termination of their defense treaty. He said the UK had under the subsidy given Jordan 800,000 pounds for December and added that the UK felt the treaty should not be terminated without one month’s notice in payments.

The Secretary asked Mr. Lloyd “What is the future of Jordan?” Mr. Lloyd replied “I don’t think it’s got one”. He then added “unless it becomes a little Satellite”. He said he thought that the King will [Page 74] go mad. He thought that Trans Jordan alone could have been kept going (although it would have needed a subsidy), but that it was ruined when it took over the West Bank and the refugees. He said that he didn’t see how Jordan could last for very long but that “it does not suit us or you that it becomes a Russian Satellite.”

It was agreed that the King of Jordan was not going to do well in passing the hat among his Arab neighbors in an effort to get a replacement for the British subsidy. The Secretary said we had considered giving Jordan some money but he did not know whether we would do so. He said that he was not too much alarmed by Satellites springing up which are not contiguous to the territory of the USSR. If the territory is not contiguous, the Russians are not able to act as they had in the Hungarian situation. He said that noncontiguous Satellites can be “pinched off” by the US and UK working together. He said he thought the Russians knew this, that they would make trouble with non-contiguous Satellites but they were not prepared to make a big investment in areas which they could not hold. He added that he thought this was the reason the Russians had not moved in on the Aswan Dam.

Before leaving this subject, Mr. Lloyd mentioned that the British subsidy to Jordan was about 13 million pounds per year.

  1. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 814. Secret. No drafting information is given on the source text. Dulles was in Paris for the 18th Ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council held December 11–14.↩