Office of the Historian

150. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the President and the Secretary of State, White House, Washington, March 2, 1956, 8:50 a.m.1

Washington, March 2, 1956, 8:50 a.m.

Messrs. Brownell and Sherman Adams, who were with the President when I went into the room, stayed throughout this conversation at my request.

I said to the President I hoped that there would not be White House pressure in my absence2 to give arms to Israel. This might be necessary, but it would be disastrous to do so during the course of the present negotiations and without a prior exchange of views with the negotiator. I said that the White House staff was subject to strong political influences and might alarm him on the subject. I hoped, however, that they would not put any undue pressure on the State Department during my absence.

The President asked what kind of thinking I had in mind. I referred to the Saudi tank matter3 and the possibility of Mysteres planes going, etc.

The President referred, somewhat apologetically, to the Saudi tank matter, saying he had been disturbed all of a sudden in the evening when he was relaxed and going to bed, but that he remembered a good rule in war, which was probably also a good [Page 276] rule in peace, that is not to disturb carefully thought out plans in a spirit of sudden emergency without calm review of the whole situation.

I said I thought it might be useful if I discussed the situation at the Cabinet meeting. The President agreed and I did so at the Cabinet meeting on a confidential basis, pointing out the need we had of accomplishing the dual purpose of (1) preserving the State of Israel and (2) avoiding such a break with the Arab countries as would jeopardize the industry of Western Europe and the military power of NATO.4

JFD
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President. Secret; Personal and Private. Drafted by Dulles. The time of the meeting is from Dulles’ Appointment Book. (Princeton University Library, Dulles Papers)↩
  2. Dulles left Washington on March 2 to attend the second meeting of the SEATO Council at Karachi. He arrived at Karachi on March 5, attended the SEATO Council sessions March 6–8, and then visited New Delhi, Colombo, Djakarta, Bangkok, Saigon, Manila, Taipei, Seoul, and Tokyo, March 9–19. He returned to Washington on March 21.↩
  3. See footnote 5, Document 106.↩
  4. The Minutes of Cabinet Meeting for March 2 are in Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Cabinet Papers.↩