Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Arab-Israeli Dispute, January 1–July 26, 1956, Volume XV

366. Memorandum for the Record, by the Counselor of the Department of State (MacArthur)¹

Washington, May 25, 1956.

SUBJECT

• Operation “Stockpile”

Pursuant to the Secretary’s instructions, I called Admiral Radford today about Operation “Stockpile”.² Admiral Radford was absent from his office and so I talked with Admiral Hedding (Admiral Radford’s Special Assistant, who is fully familiar with “Stockpile”). I made reference to Admiral Radford’s call to me yesterday³ when he expressed fear that Operation “Stockpile” or certain aspects of the matter might leak. I said that I had conveyed Admiral Radford’s message to the Secretary who had subsequently discussed this with the President. I said that both the Secretary and the President agreed that we should go ahead with Operation “Stockpile” despite the possibility of a leak. At the same time, I had been instructed to draw up a statement which we could make to the press in answer to queries should this operation leak. The statement would be general in character and would make reference to the President’s April 9 statement that the U.S. would support the victim of aggression in the Near East and say that we had made arrangements to have a supply of military equipment in close proximity to the area which we would make available to any country which had been subject to attack in violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Admiral Hedding said he would convey the foregoing to Admiral Radford. He added that he was not as concerned as some people were about the effect of a leak. He thought it was an excellent idea to have a statement up our sleeves in the event Operation “Stockpile” or any aspects of it should leak.⁴ I said to Admiral Hedding that after we had drawn up a draft statement I would pass it to him for any comments or suggestions that Mr. Gordon Gray and Admiral Radford might have. I indicated that we would do this early next week. He expressed his appreciation.

I then asked Admiral Hedding where Operation “Stockpile” now stood in the Pentagon. He replied that Admiral Radford was presenting to Mr. Wilson a draft letter from Mr. Wilson to Secretary Dulles⁵ indicating that Operation “Stockpile” would be put into effect and enclosing copies of directives to the Secretaries of the Navy, Army, and Air Force, instructing them to get out the necessary instructions to their people to implement Operation “Stockpile” in terms of having the AKA and weapons available in the Mediterranean as envisaged and having the Air people do the necessary planning so that the planes could be delivered if such a decision was taken.

D MacA

1. Source: Department of State, S/S–NEA Files: Lot 61 D 417, Omega #5. Top Secret; Omega. A note attached to the source text indicates that the memorandum was forwarded to Hoover.
2. At a meeting in Dulles’ office that day, the Secretary instructed MacArthur to call Radford to inform him that the President wanted to proceed with Operation Stockpile. Dulles wished to have a public statement along the following lines ready for release:

   “In view of the April 9 White House statement that the U.S. would aid the victim of aggression in the Near East, we have made arrangements to have in close proximity to the area stockpiles of military equipment which we would make available to the country which had been subject to attack in violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter.” (Memorandum for the record, May 25; ibid.)

3. See Document 364.
4. See Document 382.
5. Wilson’s letter of May 24 to Dulles, along with copies of Wilson’s directives to the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, is in Department of State, S/S–NEA Files: Lot 61 D 417, Omega #5.