Office of the Historian

382. Memorandum From the Counselor of the Department of State (MacArthur) to the Secretary of State1

Washington, May 31, 1956.

Mr. Secretary: I attach a draft announcement which might be issued in the event “Operation Stockpile” leaks or in the event we wish to issue an announcement as a deterrent to the outbreak of hostilities. This draft has been cleared by Mr. McCardle and Mr. Rountree, and is concurred in by Admiral Radford and Mr. Gordon Gray. (However, Admiral Radford feels that in the event of a leak we may be pressed very hard by the news people and might have to give out something more in detail. I do not agree with this and I believe it is your thought that we should purposely keep the [Page 703] anouncement vague with a certain aura of mystery as to exactly what we have stockpiled.)2

When the draft announcement has your approval, I think we should:

1.
Talk to Mr. Hagerty about it at the White House so that we can get an agreed draft which we would have up our sleeve in the event of having to make a statement. I think we would all recognize that before issuing such a statement we would look it over again to see whether any modification were necessary. But in the meantime, it would be extremely useful to have an agreed draft (such as the attached) up our sleeve.3
2.
Consider who would issue this statement. Again, we would not make a final decision now but would you envisage it being issued by

a.
The White House?
b.
The State Department?
c.
The Defense Department?4

When I have received your comments I will, if you concur, discuss this with Mr. Hagerty.

DMacA

[Attachment]

DRAFT ANNOUNCEMENT5

On April 9 a statement was issued by the White House regarding the serious situation in the Middle East.6 The statement declared that the United States is determined to support and assist any Nation in that area which might be subjected to aggression and expressed confidence that other nations will act similarly in the cause of peace.

Pursuant to this statement, the United States Government has made arrangements to have in close proximity to the Middle East Area certain stockpiles of military supplies and equipment which it would make available to any nation which might be subjected to aggression in violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

  1. Source: Department of State, S/S–NEA Files: Lot 61 D 417, Omega #6. Top Secret; Omega. The source text bears notations that Secretary Dulles, Hoover, and Rountree saw this memorandum.↩
  2. Secretary Dulles wrote “agree” in the lefthand margin next to this paragraph.↩
  3. Secretary Dulles wrote “OK” in the lefthand margin next to the final sentence in this paragraph.↩
  4. An unidentified individual drew lines through options a and c.↩
  5. Top Secret; Omega. Drafted on May 25.↩
  6. See footnote 2, Document 258.↩